Gerard, Francis
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1905-1966) UK author born Francis Edward Marie Gerard (surname was sometimes spelled Gérard; he dropped the Marie in adult life), in South Africa after World War Two; most of his works are thrillers, some of them continuations of Edgar Wallace's nonfantastic Sanders of the Rivers tales; several of them featuring Sir John Meredith, an eminent Occult Detective [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] whose investigations move sometimes into Lost Race territory, examples being Golden Guilt (1938), in which a lost colony of Crusaders is found to have survived in Central Asia, and The Prisoner of the Pyramid (1948), focusing on Aztec survivals in Central America. The Black Emperor (short version 7 November 1936 The Thriller; 1936) is a Near Future political thriller, in which a Black man is persuaded to attempt to become the emperor of all Africa; more complexly interesting in an sf sense, Secret Sceptre (1937) focuses on a secret society of knights, a Pariah Elite sequestered in a remote part of Wales, whose goal is to preserve the Holy Grail and to defend Britain from the Anti-Christ. [JC]
Francis Edward Marie Gerard
born Chiswick, Middlesex: 4 February 1905
died Johannesburg: 1966
works (selected)
series
Sir John Meredith
- Secret Sceptre (London: Rich and Cowan, 1937) [Sir John Meredith: hb/Bip Pares]
- Golden Guilt (London: Rich and Cowan, 1938) [Sir John Meredith: hb/]
- Wotan's Wedge (London: Rich and Cowan, 1939) [Sir John Meredith: hb/]
- The Mind of John Meredith (London: Macdonald and Co, 1946) [Sir John Meredith: hb/Baird]
- The Prisoner of the Pyramid (London: Macdonald and Co, 1948) [Sir John Meredith: hb/Stein]
- Flight into Fear (London: Macdonald and Co, 1948) [Sir John Meredith: hb/]
- The Promise of the Phoenix (London: Macdonald and Co, 1950) [Sir John Meredith: hb/uncredited]
- Bare Bodkin (London: Macdonald and Co, 1951) [Sir John Meredith: hb/]
individual titles
- The Black Emperor (London: Rich and Cowan, 1936) [short version first appeared 7 November 1936 The Thriller: hb/uncredited]
- Sorcerer's Shaft (London: Macdonald and Co, 1948) [hb/Stein]
links
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Occult Detectives
- Picture Gallery
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