Crawley, Rayburn
Entry updated 23 March 2026. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of US authors Laura Spencer Portor Pope (1872-1957) and Dorothy Giles (1892-1960) for their Yellow Ape sequence, comprising The Valley of Creeping Men (1930) and Chattering Gods (1931), in which two young women – along with the man they both love, and mysterious figures associated with Dr Sergius Marakoff, the Mad Scientist father of one of the girls – find themselves embroiled in adventures after his death and the disappearance of a strange yellow ape (see Apes as Human). The trail leads complicatedly to an Africa evocative of the works of H Rider Haggard, where a Lost World is discovered, though it is inhabited now only by upright black apes (see Devolution). The ultimate function of the yellow ape itself (or himself) is never fully articulated, though the discovery of a world-changing chemical may be implicated; the sequel, Chattering Gods (1931), continues to focus on the lost world, and the fate of its inhabitants. Both authors published non-fantastic work solo under their own names. [JC]
Laura Spencer Portor Pope
born Covington, Kentucky: 4 February 1872
died Putnam Country, New York: 1957
Dorothy Giles
born Cold Spring, New York: 27 April 1892
died Cold Spring, New York: 29 December 1960
works
series
Yellow Ape
- The Valley of Creeping Men (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1930) [Yellow Ape: hb/Politzer]
- Chattering Gods (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1931) [Yellow Ape: hb/]
links
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