Friel, Arthur O
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1885-1959) US author and explorer, most of whose work appeared in Pulp magazines, including the McKay, Knowlton and Ryan sequence of Lost Race tales set in South America and featuring the exploits of Americans, who eventually establish a kingdom somewhere close to Peru, their central base being in ancient ruins left by a mysterious white race. Those published as books – The Pathless Trail (10 October-10 November 1921 Adventure; 1922), Tiger River (20 July-20 August 1922 Adventure; 1923), in which men are transformed into beasts by a strange Circean wine, The King of No Man's Land (?20 March-20 April 1924 Adventure; 1924) and Mountains of Mystery (30 January-28 February 1925 Adventure; 1925) – are marginal as sf; but "In the Year 2000" (15 May-15 June 1928 Adventure), a tale featuring the grandson of Knowlton and McKay which never reached book form, is set after a world war in which White men have triumphed. [JC]
Arthur Olney Friel
born Detroit, Michigan: 31 May 1885
died Concord, New Hampshire: 27 January 1959
works
series
McKay, Knowlton and Ryan
- The Pathless Trail (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1922) [first appeared 10 October-10 November 1921 Adventure: McKay, Knowlton and Ryan: hb/]
- Tiger River (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1923) [first appeared 20 July-20 August 1922 Adventure: McKay, Knowlton and Ryan: hb/]
- The King of No Man's Land (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1924) [first appeared ?20 March-20 April 1924 Adventure: McKay, Knowlton and Ryan: hb/]
- Mountains of Mystery (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1925) [first appeared 30 January-28 February 1925 Adventure: McKay, Knowlton and Ryan: hb/]
individual titles
- Forgotten Island (New York: Fiction League, 1931) [first appeared 1931 Adventure: hb/]
- Amazon Nights (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) [coll: stories originally published in Adventure between 1919 and 1921: hb/Mark Wheatley]
links
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