Rolt-Wheeler, Francis W
Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.
Working name of UK author Francis William Wheeler (1876-1960), in US and Canada circa 1900-1925, later in Tunis and Nice; in his early career he specialized in stories for boys, though in his later years – after a spectacular 1915 divorce which led to his imprisonment – he turned to the kind of religious investigation, including forays into Theosophy, that characterized the career of his sister, Ethel Rolt Wheeler (1869-1958) (both siblings added "Rolt" to their names). His works of some sf interest include The Monster-Hunters (1916), about an expedition to Africa where prehistoric fossils are uncovered, and The Aztec-Hunters (1918), a Lost Race tale, the only titles in the Museum series which are of fantastic interest; and three volumes which mix Prehistoric SF and Lost Race motifs: The Finder of Fire (1927), in which a Neanderthal lad steals fire for his people from a Cro-Magnon tribe; The Tamer of Herds (1928), an epic of animal domestication set in ancient Chaldea; and The Pyramid Builder (1929), set in Ancient Egypt. [JC]
Francis William Wheeler
born Forest Hill, London: 16 December 1876
died Nice, France: 21 August 1960
works
series
Museum (selected)
- The Monster-Hunters (Boston, Massachusetts: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, 1916) [Museum: illus/hb/]
- The Aztec-Hunters (Boston, Massachusetts: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, 1918) [Museum: illus/hb/]
individual titles
- The Finder of Fire (New York: D Appleton and Company, 1927) [hb/]
- The Tamer of Herds (New York: D Appleton and Company, 1928) [hb/William F Soare]
- The Pyramid Builder (New York: D Appleton and Company, 1929) [hb/]
links
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