Edgar, Alfred
Entry updated 26 December 2022. Tagged: Author, Film.
(1896-1972) UK playwright and author, eventually resident in the USA, whose work for Boys' Papers included at least two sf novels of moderate interest. The young protagonists of Invaders from Mars (1931 chap) travel to Mars and return post-haste to Earth to warn of the Martians' planned Invasion. In The Insect Men (1936), four school chums and their capable teacher are transported via Time Travel to the embattled Britain of 5000 CE, when the rest of the world is almost entirely overrun with the titular flesh-eating Monsters also known as Krooms; future British Scientists were attempting to retrieve Weapons technology from World War One (supposedly the last war fought in history), but miscalculated. Predictably, the chums and schoolmaster deal with the Krooms, receive medals, and are returned unscathed to the precise moment from which they were snatched.
Much of Edgar's work – including the screenplays for The War of the Worlds (1953) and Conquest of Space (1955) – was written as by Barré Lyndon, or as by Barry Lyndon. Another pseudonym used for Boys' Friend Library titles was Roger Fowey. [SH/JC/RR/DRL]
Alfred Edgar
born London: 12 August 1896
died Beverley Hills, California: 23 October 1972
works
- Invaders from Mars (London: Amalgamated Press, 1931) [chap: first appeared 23 February-13 April 1929 Modern Boy: in the publisher's Boys' Friend Library series: pb/LJ]
- The Insect Men (London: Amalgamated Press, 1936) [chap: technically an anth as one short story is appended: first appeared 3 May-21 June 1930 Modern Boy: in the publisher's Boys' Friend Library series: pb/GIL]
- The White Knight Rides Again (London: Amalgamated Press, 1937) [chap: technically an anth as one short story is appended: first appeared 18 April-11 July 1936 Pilot: in the publisher's Boys' Friend Library series: pb/uncredited]
- Earthquake! (London: Amalgamated Press, 1939) [chap: first appeared 19 December 1931-6 February 1932 Modern Boy: in the publisher's Boys' Friend Library series: pb/uncredited]
- The Lion at Bay (London: Amalgamated Press, 1926) as by Roger Fowey [chap: first appeared 3 January-28 February 1925 Boys' Friend as by Fowey: in the publisher's Boys' Friend Library series: pb/uncredited]
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