John Russell Fearn (5 June 1908 — 18 September 1960) was a British writer, one of the first to appear in Americanpulpscience fiction magazines. A prolific author, he published his novels also asVargo Statten and with various pseudonyms includingThornton Ayre,Polton Cross,Geoffrey Armstrong,John Cotton,Dennis Clive,Ephriam Winiki,Astron Del Martia.
Fearn was a prolific writer who wroteWesterns andcrime fiction as well as science fiction. His writing appeared under numerous pseudonyms. He wrote series such asAdam Quirke,Clayton Drew,Golden Amazon, andHerbert. At times these drew on the pulp traditions ofEdgar Rice Burroughs. His work received praise for its vividness, but criticism, being deemed "unpolished"[according to whom?], withArthur C. Clarke commenting in 1939 that "we must admire the magnificent, if undisciplined, fertility of his mind".[1]
Child of a cotton salesman and a secretary, Fearn worked initially for his father's firm, followed by work as a solicitor's clerk, fairground assistant, at a munitions factory, and as a cinema projectionist. He married writer Camilla Fegan in 1957.As well as writing he was involved in writing/acting in local plays and active in writers' groups. In 1938, he toldAmazing Stories that he "likes broiling sunlight and heated rooms [and] smokes incessantly while he writes".[2] During theSecond World War, Fearn was chief projectionist at theEmpire Cinema inBlackpool.[3]
The first instalment of Fearn's novelLiners of Time took the cover of the May 1935 issue ofAmazing Stories, illustrated byLeo Morey.Fearn's novelSecret of the Buried City was the cover story of the May 1939 issue ofAmazing Stories, illustrated byRobert Fuqua (real nameJoseph Wirt Tillotson[4]).Vargo Statten's novellaSurvivor of Mars was originally published inTwo Complete Science-Adventure Books in 1953.
Whispering Satellite (1938) as by Thornton Ayre (inAstounding Stories, Jan 1938)
What Happened to Hammond? (1951) as by Hugo Blayn
Valley of Pretenders (circa 1942 chap US) as by Dennis Clive
The Voice Commands (circa 1942 chap US) as by Dennis Clive
Other Eyes Watching (1946) as by Polton Cross
The Trembling World (1949) as by Astron Del Martia. There is another novelOne Against Time as by Astron Del Martia stated to have been written by JRF. This is incorrect. It was in fact written by Stephen D. Frances.
Don't Touch Me (1953) as by Spike Gordon
The Dyno-Depressent (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Magnetic Brain (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Moons for Sale (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Scourge of the Atom (1953 as "After the Atom" by JRF; revised 1953) as by Volsted Gridban
A Thing of the Past (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Genial Dinosaur (1954)
Exit Life (1941 as "The World in Wilderness" as by Thornton Ayre; revised 1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Master Must Die (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Lonely Astronomer (partly based on "Death at the Observatory" as by JRF; 1954) as by Volsted Gridban
The Purple Wizard (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Frozen Limit (1954) as by Volsted Gridban
I Came - I Saw - I Wondered (1954) as by Volsted Gridban
Liquid Death (1954) as by "Griff"
Cosmic Exodus (1953 chap) as by Conrad G. Holt
Dark Boundaries (1953) as by Paul Lorraine
The Hell-Fruit (1953 chap) as by Lawrence F. Rose[5]
