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Firth, N Wesley

Entry updated 9 January 2023. Tagged: Author.

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Working name of UK author Norman Firth (1920-1949), who in fact had no middle name. He began his career during World War Two writing Pulp Westerns and thrillers. He wrote stories variously as Rice Ackman, Earl Ellison, Jackson Evans, Leslie Halward, Olga Hendry, Joel Johnson and perhaps other names; his first sf publication was almost certainly "Obscene Parade" (1946 Weird Story Magazine #2). His first novel, Terror Strikes (1946 chap), is of some interest, if only through its extremely close resemblance to H G Wells's The Invisible Man (1897) (see Invisibility). Spawn of the Vampire (1946 chap; vt Sinister Honeymoon 2015) is a hastily concocted horror tale featuring a Vampire. Firth wrote the entire contents of Futuristic Stories (two issues, 1946) and Strange Adventures (two issues, 1946 and 1947). He was a writer of potential worth, but died (of tuberculosis) at the age of twenty-nine before having a real opportunity to prove it.

Several of his works – some retitled – have been reissued in large-print editions from 2015 onwards, bylined Norman Firth. [SH/DRL]

Norman Firth

born Birkenhead, Cheshire: 20 October 1920

died Birkenhead, Cheshire: 13 December 1949

works (highly selected)

  • Terror Strikes (London: Hamilton and Co, 1946) [chap: pb/H W Perl]
  • Spawn of the Vampire (London: Bear, Hudson, 1946) [chap: pb/H W Perl]
  • Blood on the Dragon (London: Hamilton and Co, 1946) as Earl Ellison [chap: pb/H W Perl]
    • Blood on the Dragon (Anstey, Leicester: F A Thorpe / Linford Mystery, 2015) as Norman Firth [omni of the above two: former retitled Sinister Honeymoon: pb/]
  • The Tomb of Horror (London: Hamilton and Co, 1946) as Earl Ellison [chap: pb/H W Perl]
    • Find the Lady (Anstey, Leicester: F A Thorpe / Linford Mystery, 2015) as Norman Firth [omni of title story and the above: latter retitled The Egyptian Tomb: pb/]

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