H. Bedford-Jones

Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (April 29, 1887 – May 6, 1949) was a Canadian historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a naturalized United States citizen in 1908.

H. Bedford-Jones
Born	April 29, 1887 Napanee, Ontario, Canada
Died	May 6, 1949 (aged 62) Beverly Hills, California, United States
Pen name	Donald Bedford, Montague Brissard, Cleveland B. Chase, Paul Ferval, Michael Gallister, Allan Hawkwood, Gordon Keyne, M. Lassez, George Souli de Mourant, Lucian Pemjean, Margaret Love Sangerson, Charles George Souli, Gordon Stuart, Elliot Whitney, John Wycliffe[1]
Occupation	short story writer, novelist
Nationality	Canada, United States
Genre	Historical fiction Adventure, Science fiction, Fantasy

Career

After being encouraged to try writing by his friend, writer William Wallace Cook, Bedford-Jones began writing dime novels and pulp magazine stories.[2] Bedford-Jones was an enormously prolific writer; the pulp editor Harold Hersey once recalled meeting Bedford-Jones in Paris, where he was working on two novels simultaneously, each story on its own separate typewriter.[2] Bedford-Jones cited Alexandre Dumas as his main influence, and wrote a sequel to Dumas' The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan (1928).[3] He wrote nearly 200 novels, 400 novelettes, and 800 short stories, earning the nickname "King of the Pulps". His works appeared in a number of pulp magazines. Bedford-Jones' main publisher was Blue Book magazine; he also appeared in Adventure, All-Story Weekly, Argosy, Short Stories, Top-Notch Magazine, The Magic Carpet/Oriental Stories, Golden Fleece, Ace-High Magazine, People's Story Magazine, Hutchinson's Adventure-Story Magazine, Detective Fiction Weekly, Western Story Magazine, and Weird Tales.

Bedford-Jones wrote numerous works of historical fiction dealing with several different eras, including Ancient Rome, the Viking era, seventeenth century France and Canada during the "New France" era.[2] Bedford-Jones produced several fantasy novels revolving around Lost Worlds, including The Temple of the Ten (1921, with W. C. Robertson).[2]

In addition to writing fiction, Bedford-Jones also worked as a journalist for the Boston Globe, and wrote poetry.[2] Bedford-Jones was a friend of Erle Stanley Gardner and Vincent Starrett.[4][5]

Works

partial list

• Blood Royal (People's, 1914)
• John Solomon, Supercargo (Argosy, 1914) John Solomon #2
• Solomon's Quest (People's, 1915) John Solomon #3
• Gentleman Solomon (People's, 1915) John Solomon #4
• The Seal of John Solomon (Argosy, 1915) John Solomon #5
• Solomon's Carpet (Argosy, 1915) John Solomon #6
• The Shawl of Solomon (People's, 1917) John Solomon #9
• John Solomon, Retired (People's, 1917) John Solomon #11
• Sword Flame (All Story Weekly, 1918)
• Arizona Argonauts (Short Stories, 1920)
• The Temple of the Ten (with W. C. Robertson, Adventure 1921, book form 1973)
• John Solomon (People's, 1921) John Solomon #13
• John Solomon, Incognito (People's, 1921) John Solomon #14
• The Shadow (1922)
• Pirates' Gold (Adventures 1922)
• Splendour of the Gods (1924)
• The Star Woman (1924)
• D'Artagnan (Adventure, 1928)
• The Wizard of Atlas (1928)
• The Opium Ship (2005)
• The House of Skulls and other Tales from the Pulps (2006)
• The Golden Goshawk (2009) Captain Dan Marquad series
• The Master of Dragons (2011) O'Neill and Burkett series
• The Rajah from Hell (2012)
• The Saga of Thady Shea (2013)
• Wilderness Trail (2013) originally in Blue Book in 1915

Non-fiction

• This Fiction Business (1922, revised 1929)

Gallery

• 
  Bedford-Jones's "Comrade Island" was the cover story in the January 1916 issue of The Argosy
• 
  Bedford-Jones's novelette "Pearls from Macao" took the cover of the July 1933 issue of Magic Carpet
• 
  Bedford-Jones's "The Artificial Honeymoon" was the cover story in the July 1940 Weird Tales

References

1. Michael Ashley (1978). Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction. Elm tree Books. p. 30. ISB0-241-89528-6.
2. Mike Ashley, "Bedford Jones, H(enry James O'Brien)", in St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers, edited by David Pringle, St. James Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55862-205-5, p. 51-3.
3. Bernard A. Drew, Literary afterlife: the posthumous continuations of 325 authors' fictional characters. McFarland, 2010, ISBN 0-7864-4179-8 (pp. 43-44).
4. H. Bedford-Jones: "King of the Pulps" by Peter Ruber Archived January 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
5. Vincent Starrett, Born in a bookshop; chapters from the Chicago Renascence." Norman, University of Oklahoma Press,1965.

Sources

• H. Bedford-Jones at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Ashley, Mike (1977). Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction. New York: Taplinger. p. 30. ISBN 0-8008-8278-4.
• Clute, John; Peter Nicholls (1995). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 101–102. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
• Ruber, Peter; Darrell C. Richardson; Victor A. Berch (2003). King of the Pulps:The Life and Writings of H. Bedford-Jones. Eugenia: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. ISBN 1-55246-464-4.

External links

• Works by H. Bedford-Jones at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by H. Bedford-Jones at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about H. Bedford-Jones at Internet Archive
• Works by H. Bedford-Jones at Project Gutenberg Australia
• A large collection of Bedford-Jones's manuscripts resides at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin