Cay Van Ash (born in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, England in 1918; died in Paris, France in April 1994) was a Professor of English Literature at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

in Japan and a writer. In 1935, the 17-year-old pedalled his bicycle to interview his literary hero

Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in David ...

. The two struck up a friendship. Van Ash lived with the Rohmers for 15 months, while Rohmer taught him the mechanics of writing. He was employed as Rohmer's secretary for a number of years before moving to Japan in the 1950s. They continued to correspond until Rohmer's death in 1959. In 1971, Rohmer's widow Elizabeth contacted Van Ash to help her complete a biography of her husband, ''Master of Villainy'', which was published the following year. Whilst teaching in Japan, Van Ash was licensed by the Rohmer estate to write a

continuation In computer science, a continuation is an abstract representation of the control state of a computer program. A continuation implements ( reifies) the program control state, i.e. the continuation is a data structure that represents the computat ...

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu ( zh, t=傅滿洲/福滿洲, p=Fú Mǎnzhōu) is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character f ...

novel, ''Ten Years Beyond Baker Street'' (1984). Set in April 1914 in Sussex, it featured Dr. Petrie calling

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

out of retirement after Nayland Smith is abducted. A second novel, ''The Fires of Fu Manchu'', set during the First World War, followed in 1987. A third novel, ''The Seal of Fu Manchu'', was announced in 1988. At the time of his death in 1994, Van Ash and his wife were living in Paris where he was researching the novel's setting. The manuscript was unfinished at the time of his death and is now believed lost. Van Ash taught at Waseda University from 1961 until his death.

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External links

A Footnote on the Yellow Peril
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Ash, Cay 1918 births 1994 deaths 20th-century English novelists Academic staff of Waseda University English expatriates in Japan English male novelists English thriller writers Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches