Austin J. Small


Austin James Small was an English writer of thriller, detective, science fiction, adventure, romance, and western novels and short stories. Most of Small's titles appeared in Britain under the pen name 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, Bedfordshire 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, where he was a champion heavyweight boxer. He met and was inspired to write by Jack London, 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 magazines.
In 1924 he produced a western novel, The Frozen Trail, and three romantic novels in 1925, before publishing Master Vorst The Death Maker, 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. He went on to write half a dozen detective novels, another science fiction novel, and many short stories.
He was found dead in Kensington, 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 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 The Man They Couldn't Arrest The Master Mystery The Vantine Diamonds Down River / The Needle’s Kiss, published posthumouslyThe Web of Destiny / The Web of Murder, published posthumouslyThe Mystery-Maker /, published posthumously

Science fiction novels

Master Vorst /The Death Maker The Avenging Ray, published posthumously

Other novels

The Frozen Trail Love’s Enemy Pearls of Desire
  • ''Peggy: A Love Romance''

Short stories

Collections:Out of the Dark: A Volume of Stories, published posthumouslyPawns and Kings: Stories by Seamark, published posthumously
As Seamark:Furrows of Destiny On the Northern Trail End o’ the Trail The Kid Only Siwash Hearts and Diamonds Snowflake Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow The Way of a Man Jungle Whispers Crossing Trails Far from Nowhere The Wisdom of Kodiak Tommy The Civilizers Red Man’s Gods Smoke Evergales to Tin Sheds The Overdose The Last Laugh “Thank you, Emmy” Query, published posthumouslyBlack Man’s Medicine, published posthumouslyThe Seamark Omnibus of Thrills, published posthumously
As Austin J. Small:Frozen Gold Thundering Snows Klondike Fires The Silent Death Square Peg, published posthumously

Film adaptations