Austin James Small (25 July 1894 – 15 January 1929) was an English writer of
thriller,
detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
,
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
,
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
,
romance, and
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
novels and short stories. Most of Small's titles appeared in Britain under the
pen name
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
Seamark, while his American publisher preferred using the name Austin J. Small. Several film plots were based on his stories.
Biography
Small was born Austin Major Small in
Luton
Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census.
Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...
,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
on 25 July 1894. He later changed his name to Arthur James Small. He ran away to sea as a boy and travelled the world, serving in the
Royal Navy during the First World War
The Royal Navy had three main tasks at the beginning of the war: to bring the British Expeditionary Force to France and ensure its supplies and reinforcements; to establish and maintain a blockade against Germany; and to ensure the security of ...
, where he was a champion heavyweight boxer.
He met and was inspired to write by
Jack London
John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...
, and adopted the pen name “Seamark” to comply with
Admiralty regulations.
[ He began his literary career in the early 1920s publishing new westerns and detective stories in British ]pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...
s.
In 1924 he produced a western novel, ''The Frozen Trail'', and three romantic novels in 1925, before publishing ''Master Vorst'' ''The Death Maker'' (1926), a science fiction novel in which a secret society based in London develops a means of destroying the human species with the help of a bacteriological weapon.Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
, London on 15 January 1929, from suicide by gas inhalation.[ Several of his works were not published until after his death, including his final science fiction novel ''The Avenging Ray'' (1930) in which a mad scientist intends to destroy the Earth using a death ray, and the title story in the collection ''Out of the Dark'' which features a wereleopard.][
]
Works
Detective novels
* ''The Silent Six'' (, London, 1926)
* ''The Man They Couldn't Arrest'' ( George H. Doran Company, New York, 1925/Hodder & Stoughton, London 1927)
* ''The Master Mystery'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1928/Doubleday
Doubleday may refer to:
* Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name
Publishing imprints
* Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House
* Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...
, New York, 1928)
* ''The Vantine Diamonds'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1930/Doubleday, New York, 1930)
* ''Down River'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/ ''The Needle’s Kiss'' (Doubleday, New York, 1929), published posthumously
* ''The Web of Destiny'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/ ''The Web of Murder'' (Doubleday, New York, 1929), published posthumously
* ''The Mystery-Maker'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/(Doubleday, New York, 1930), published posthumously
Science fiction novels
* ''Master Vorst'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1926)/''The Death Maker'' (George H. Doran, 1926)
* ''The Avenging Ray'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930/Doubleday, Doran - The Crime Club, 1930), published posthumously
Other novels
* ''The Frozen Trail'' (Houghton Mifflin Company
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Boston Financial District. It was formerly known as the Houghto ...
, New York, 1924)
* ''Love’s Enemy'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1924)
* ''Pearls of Desire'' ( William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1924/Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1925)
* ''Peggy: A Love Romance'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1925)
Short stories
Collections:
* ''Out of the Dark: A Volume of Stories'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1931), published posthumously
* ''Pawns and Kings: Stories by Seamark'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1931), published posthumously
As Seamark:
* ''Furrows of Destiny'' (1921)
* ''On the Northern Trail'' (1921)
* ''End o’ the Trail'' (1921)
* ''The Kid'' (1921)
* ''Only Siwash'' (1922)
* ''Hearts and Diamonds'' (1922)
* ''Snowflake'' (1922)
* ''Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'' (1922)
* ''The Way of a Man'' (1922)
* ''Jungle Whispers'' (1922)
* ''Crossing Trails'' (1922)
* ''Far from Nowhere'' (1922)
* ''The Wisdom of Kodiak Tommy'' (1922)
* ''The Civilizers'' (1923)
* ''Red Man’s Gods'' (1923)
* ''Smoke'' (1923)
* ''Evergales to Tin Sheds'' (1924)
* ''The Overdose'' (1924)
* ''The Last Laugh'' (1926)
* '' “Thank you, Emmy” '' (1927)
* ''Query'' (1931), published posthumously
* ''Black Man’s Medicine'' (1931), published posthumously
* ''The Seamark Omnibus of Thrills'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1937), published posthumously
As Austin J. Small:
* ''Frozen Gold'' (William Heinemann, London, 1924)
* ''Thundering Snows'' (1925)
* ''Klondike Fires'' (1926)
* ''The Silent Death'' (1926)
* ''Square Peg'' (1932), published posthumously
Film adaptations
*'' Sailors Don’t Care'' (1928),[ based on the 1929 novel
*'' The Man They Couldn't Arrest'' (1931),][ based on the 1925 novel
*'' Murder in Reverse?'' (1945),][ based on the 1931 novel “Query”
]
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Austin J.
1894 births
1929 deaths
20th-century British novelists
20th-century English short story writers
20th-century English male writers
20th-century English novelists
20th-century pseudonymous writers
Adventure fiction
British detective fiction writers
British male novelists
British science fiction writers
British thriller writers
English crime fiction writers
English male novelists
English male short story writers
English science fiction writers
English short story writers
Pulp fiction writers
Pulp magazines
Western (genre) writers
Suicides by gas
Suicides in Greater London