Fletcher, J S
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1863-1935) UK journalist and author of popular fiction, much of it for boys, though he is best known for his detective fiction. The Wonderful City (1894), for instance, carries its youthful protagonist to a Lost World in Western America at the famous Four Corners where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet; unfortunately, the inhabitants' ecologically sound lives count for little when a great volcano erupts. Morrison's Machine (1900), an adult tale, analyses the relationship of scientific Man to the Machines he was creating at the turn of the century (see Scientists). In The Three Days' Terror (1901), idealistic terrorists evaporate a vast swathe of London when their ransom demand – for funds to build a better world – is ignored. The Ransom for London (1914) also deals with Near-Future threats to the stability of the UK. [JC]
Joseph Smith Fletcher
born Halifax, Yorkshire: 7 February 1863
died Dorking, Surrey: 30 January 1935
works
- The Wonderful City (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1894) [hb/]
- Morrison's Machine (London: Hutchinson and Co, 1900) [hb/]
- The Three Days' Terror (London: John Long, 1901) [hb/]
- The Three Days' Terror (New York: Edward J Clode, 1927) [rev of the above: hb/]
- The Air-Ship, and Other Stories (London: Digby, Long and Co, 1903) [coll: hb/]
- The Fear of the Night: A Cluster of Stories (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1903) [coll: hb/]
- The Wheatstack, and Other Stories (London: Eveleigh Nash, 1909) [coll: hb/]
- The Ransom for London (London: John Long, 1914) [hb/]
- Many Engagements (London: John Long, 1923) [coll: hb/]
- The Matheson Formula (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1929) [hb/]
- The House in Tuesday Market (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1930) [hb/]
- The Man in No. 3, and Other Stories of Crime, Love and Mystery (London: W Collins Sons, 1931) [coll: hb/]
links
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