Francis Lillie Pollock (February 4, 1876 – 1957) was an early twentieth-century Canadian
science fiction writer. He was born in Huron County, Ontario, Canada in 1876. He wrote 'commercial fiction' under the pseudonym Frank L. Pollock, western or adventure fiction under the name Frank Lillie Pollock, and literary fiction under his own name. Some of Pollock's early commercial fiction can be found in ''The Youth's Companion''. He also regularly published short stories and poetry in ''
Munsey's Magazine'', ''
The Smart Set'', ''
The Atlantic'', ''
The Bookman (New York)'' and ''The Blue Jay'' (renamed in 1905 as ''Canadian Woman'' Magazine).
The sale of a serialised novel, ''The Treasure Trail'', enabled him to leave his job at the ''
Toronto Mail and Empire
''The Mail and Empire'' was formed from the 1895 merger of ''The Toronto Mail'' (owned by Charles Alfred Riordan and managed by Christopher W. Bunting) and ''Toronto Empire'' newspapers, both conservative newspapers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ...
'' in 1907 to pursue a full-time writing career. Pollock's writing career was pursued in tandem with a life of beekeeping. Many of his fictions are influenced by bees. Pollock kept an apiary in Shedden, Ontario and farmed commercially. He and his second wife, Zella Taylor retired to Georgetown, Ontario.
Pollock is the author of the short story "
Finis", published in the June 1906 issue of ''
The Argosy'' magazine, and his work has been anthologized several times. Briefly, "Finis" is the story of a new star that is discovered which turns out to be a new, hotter sun. It is a short hard hitting story which shows a man and woman, who stay up the night to watch the expected new star arise. Though written in 1906, it is set in the future of the mid 20th century. Pollock also wrote several science fiction stories for ''
The Black Cat'' magazine as well as
sea stories
Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...
for magazines such as ''
Adventure''.
In 1930, he was living in
Shedden, Ontario, Canada.
[T. G. Cockcroft (2005)]
The Reader Speaks: Reaction to Clark Ashton Smith in the Pulps
/ref>
Bibliography
Novels
*''The Treasure Trail'' (1906)
*''The Frozen Fortune'' (1910)
*''Northern Diamonds'' (1917) Originally serialised in The Youth's Companion
''The Youth's Companion'' (1827–1929), known in later years as simply ''The Companion—For All the Family'', was an American children's magazine that existed for over one hundred years until it finally merged with ''The American Boy'' in 1929. ...
magazine.
*''Wilderness Honey'' (1917) Originally serialised in The Youth's Companion
''The Youth's Companion'' (1827–1929), known in later years as simply ''The Companion—For All the Family'', was an American children's magazine that existed for over one hundred years until it finally merged with ''The American Boy'' in 1929. ...
magazine.
*''The Woods-Rider'' (1922)
*''The Timber Treasure'' (1923)
*''The Glacier Gate'' (1926)
*''Rainbow Landing'' (1926)
*''Honey of Danger'' (1927)
*''Mirador Treasure'' (1927)
*''Bitter Honey'' (1935)
*''Jupiter Eight'' (1936)
Short stories
*''The Man Who Ran Europe'' (1898)
*''The Iron Star'' (1898)
*''The Lady and the Kwang-Chiu'' (1899)
*''The Stolen Sky-Scraper'' (1899)
*''The Bird from Cape Horn'' (1899)
*''At Tank Number Eleven'' (1900)
*''Dr. Gilbert’s Seven-Dollar Bill'' (with James D. Ellsworth) (1900)
*''The Pei Ho Privateers'' (1901)
*''The Wildcat Mine'' (1901)
*''What the Little Rifle Did'' (1901)
*''When the Green Sun Went Down'' (1901)
*''The Invisible City'' (1901)
*''The Man from Beyond'' (1901)
*''The Red Pack'' (1901)
*''In the World’s Gate'' (1901)
*''Into the Jaws of Danger'' (1902)
*''Where the Trail Broke'' (1902)
*''His Own Petard'' (1902)
*''Where Death Was Made'' (1902)
*''The Bayou Pirates'' (1902)
*''On the Up Grade'' (1902)
*''The Invisible River'' (1902)
*''The Resurrection of Jules'' (1902)
*''Trapped by the Tong'' (1903)
*''When the Luck Turned'' (1903)
*''The Drugging of Ephraim'' (1903)
*''The Death Pearl'' (1904)
*''The One Virtue'' (1904)
*''The Skyscraper in B Flat'' (1904)
*''On the River of Mist'' (1904)
*''“Knowest Thou That Land?”'' (with Will S. McGann) (1904)
*''The Crimson Blight'' (1905)
*''The Last Dawn'' (1906)
*''By the River of Death'' (1906)
*''Finis'' (1906)
*''The Sign of Scorpio'' (1906)
*''The Dominant Chord'' (1908)
*''The Zuni Crystal'' (1908)
*''World-Wreckers'' (1908)
*''The Desire of the Eyes'' (1909)
*''The Honeymoon of the Dragon (1909)
*''Prince of Apaches'' (1909)
*''The Crime Capsule'' (1910)
*''Yellow Blood'' (1910)
*''Two on Trinity'' (1911)
*''The Vulture’s Daughter'' (1911)
*''The Treasure Trail'' (1917)
*''The Sea-Snake'' (1918)
*''Poison Key'' (1919)
*''Deep-Sea Dust'' (1925)
*''Incantation'' (1925)
*''The Golden Scent'' (1929)
Notes
The Locus databas
spells his name "Pollock". The latest anthology (1999) uses "Pollack" although this appears a departure from original publication information.
References
* Clara Thomas, ''Canadian novelists, 1920-1945'', (Toronto: Longmans, Green & Company, 1946), 100.
External links
*
*
*
''Jupiter Eight''
via Internet Archive
''Finis'' text
via Project Gutenberg
The Man Who Ran Europe
via Scribd
*
vi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Francis
1876 births
1957 deaths
Canadian male novelists
Canadian science fiction writers