Rogers, Wayne

Entry updated 17 March 2025. Tagged: Author.

Pseudonym of US journalist and editor Archibald Bittner (1897-1966), who edited The Argosy from 9 June 1928 to 1931 under his own name; as Rogers (at some point he probably changed his name legally to Wayne Rogers) he was active in the Pulp magazines from 1932, beginning with "Yellow Treasure" for Thrilling Adventures in May 1932; he also wrote some stories as by Conrad Kimball. He may now be best known for his novel-length contributions to the long Spider sequence of sf-inflected stories (see The Spider), all under the House Name Grant Stockbridge. Rogers's contributions were:

• "Slaves of the Black Monarch" (August 1937 Spider)
• "The City That Dared Not Eat" (October 1937 Spider)
• "Satan's Switchboard" (December 1937 Spider)
• "The City of Lost Men" (February 1938 Spider)
• "When Thousands Slept in Hell" (May 1938 Spider)
• "Satan's Shackles" (June 1938 Spider)
• "The Devil's Candlesticks" (August 1938 Spider)
• "The Withering Death" (December 1938 Spider)
• "The Song of Death" (February 1939 Spider)
• "Blight of the Blazing Eye" (April 1939 Spider)
• "The Corpse Broker" (September 1939 Spider)

Of more direct sf interest was the sustained Yellow Horde sequence for Operator #5 under the House Name Curtis Steele; this sequence of novellas comprises the last nine issues of the journal, a story arc in which the Japanese "Hordes of the Yellow Vulture" (see Yellow Peril), after a successful Invasion of Canada, invade America from the north (see Future War), armed with futuristic Weapons. The magazine was terminated just as the real World War Two began in Europe, after the issue in which Canada is destroyed, as is Washington, leaving the remnants of America in despair. The sequence was published as:

• "The Suicide Battalion" (July 1938 Operator #5)
• "The Day of the Damned" (September 1938 Operator #5)
• The Dawn That Shook the World (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) as by Curtis Steele [coll: title story first appeared November 1938 Operator #5: pb/John Howitt]
• "When Hell Came to America" (January 1939 Operator #5)
• "Invasion From the Sky" (March 1939 Operator #5)
• The Winged Hordes of the Yellow Vulture (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) as by Curtis Steele [coll: title story first appeared May 1939 Operator #5: pb/John Howitt]
• "War Tanks of the Yellow Vulture" (July 1939 Operator #5)
• "Corpse Cavalry of the Yellow Vulture" (September 1939 Operator #5)
• "The Army From Underground" (November 1939 Operator #5)

Further work of interest by Rogers, when published under other names, remains unidentified. [JC]

see also: Secret Agent "X".

Archibald Herbert Bittner/Wayne Rogers

born New York: 24 June 1897

died Hialeah, Florida: July 1966

works

series

Operator #5: Yellow Horde (see above for placement in the overall magazine sequence)

• The Dawn That Shook the World (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) as by Curtis Steele [coll: title story first appeared November 1938 Operator #5: Operator #5: Yellow Horde: pb/]
• The Winged Horror of the Yellow Vulture (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) as by Curtis Steele [coll: title story first appeared May 1939 Operator #5 as "Winged Hordes of the Yellow Vulture": Operator #5: Yellow Horde: pb/]

Weird Tales

• Satan's Sin House and Other Stories (Vancleave, Mississippi: Dancing Tuatara Press, 2011) [coll: Weird Tales: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]
• Death Rocks the Cradle and Other Stories (Vancleave, Mississippi: Dancing Tuatara Press, 2014) [coll: Weird Tales: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]

links

• The Vintage Library
• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

previous versions of this entry

• Internet Archive