Sapper
Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of UK author Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), who wrote many thrillers and stories of World War One, in which he served. Initially writing as H C McNeile (the byline used for US editions of all his short stories), "Sapper" became famous for the creation in Bull-Dog Drummond: The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull (1920) of Bull-Dog Drummond, a thuggish antisemitic crime-fighting gentleman vigilante, some of whose adventures contain strong sf elements. Of particular note in this area is The Final Count (1926), a tale set in the very Near Future (1927) and involving the use of a secret Weapon in the form of a devastating contact Poison which is sloshed around with wild abandon. The Checklist below lists only the first four Drummond adventures linked by the recurring Villain Carl Peterson.
The Island of Terror (1931; vt Guardians of the Treasure 1931 as Herman Cyril McNeile), which features a race of ape-men (see Apes as Human), is Lost-Race sf. The Club Stories told in The Dinner Club (coll 1923) include "The Pipes of Death" (November 1921 Pearson's Magazine) a borderline-fantastic tale of trained, murderous giant spiders "about the size of a big kitten". [JC/DRL]
Herman Cyril McNeile
born Bodmin, Cornwall: 28 September 1888
died Pulborough, Sussex: 14 August 1937
works (highly selected)
series
Bull-Dog Drummond
- Bull-Dog Drummond: The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1920) as H C McNeile [Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
- The Black Gang (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1922) as H C McNeile [Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
- The Third Round (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1924) as H C McNeile [Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
- Bulldog Drummond's Third Round (New York: Doran, 1924) [Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
- The Final Count (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1926) [Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
- Bull-Dog Drummond: His Four Rounds with Carl Peterson (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938) [omni of the above four: Bull-Dog Drummond: hb/]
individual titles
- The Island of Terror (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1931) [hb/Eugene Hastain]
- Guardians of the Treasure (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1931) as Herman Cyril McNeile [vt of the above: hb/]
collections
- The Dinner Club (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923) [coll: hb/]
- The Finger of Fate: Stories (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1930) [coll: hb/Eugene Hastain]
about the author
- Richard Usborne. Clubland Heroes: A Nostalgic Study of Some Recurrent Characters in the Romantic Fiction of Dornford Yates, John Buchan and Sapper (London: Constable Publishers, 1953) [nonfiction: hb/Alma K Lee]
- Colin Watson. Snobbery with Violence: English Crime Stories and their Audience (London: Eyre Methuen, 1979) [nonfiction: rev of 1971 first edition: pp63-72: hb/Norman Mansbridge]
links
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