Elmer Brown Mason (1877–1955) was an American writer. He studied at Yale for a period, but then transferred to

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, from which he graduated in 1903. Mason became an entomologist for the now-defunct Bureau of Entomology (

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

) in 1910. In addition, he was a seasoned world traveler. In 1915, his fantastic stories of scientists hunting rare species in the remote corners of the world started appearing. Of note were the five stories featuring swamp-guide, Wandering Smith, in ''

The Popular Magazine ''The Popular Magazine'' was an early American literary magazine that ran for 612 issues from November 1903 to October 1931. It featured short fiction, novellas, serialized larger works, and even entire short novels. The magazine's subject matter ...

'', especially "The Golden Anaconda"; and the variety of tales in ''

All-Story Weekly ''Argosy'', later titled ''The Argosy'', ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' and ''The New Golden Argosy'', was an American pulp magazine from 1882 through 1978, published by Frank Munsey until its sale to Popular Publications in 1942. It is the first ...

'', highlighted by the horror-filled lost-race novelette "Black Butterflies," set in Borneo, and its sequel, "Red Tree-Frogs." Mason was gassed in France during World War I, suffering permanent disabilities, which sidetracked his writing career. His globe-trotting ceased and his stories exchanged the fantastic for the domestic. His fiction writing career petered out around 1926. He had a brief revival in 1949-50 in the pulp magazines, '' Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' and ''

Fantastic Novels ''Fantastic Novels'' was an American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine published by the Munsey Company of New York from 1940 to 1941, and again by Popular Publications, also of New York, from 1948 to 1951. It was a companion to ''Famous ...

'', which reprinted four of his stories from ''

''. "Black Butterflies," was included in the anthology ''Rainbow Fantasia: 35 Spectrumatic Tales of Wonder'' ed. by Forrest J. Ackerman; Anne Hardin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Elmer Brown Pulp fiction writers American short story writers 1877 births 1955 deaths