Henry De Clifford Couzens (1872 – April 20, 1914) was an American writer.

Biography

Couzens was born in Virginia.Doug Ellis, "Introduction", to H. D. Couzens, ''King Corrigan's Treasure: The Collected Adventures of Billy Englehart.'' Normal, IL : Black Dog Books, 2011. (pp. 7-18). One of his grandfathers was Matthew K. Couzens, a New York State Engineer. Couzens was living in New York in 1886, then relocated to Hawaii, where he lived for four years. During this time, he met

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

. Couzens then spent time in New York and Paris studying art, becoming a painter. He then returned to Hawaii and became Chief Deputy in the region's

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

.Doug Ellis, "Introduction" in ''The Best of Adventure. Volume 1, 1910-1912''. Normal, IL : Black Dog Books, 2010. (p.11) While in Hawaii, he became a friend of

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

. Couzens moved to San Francisco in 1907. Couzens first published a story in ''

Outing Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

'' magazine in 1894. He then began to contribute material to the slick magazine ''

Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

''. Couzens also began to have his stories of nautical life regularly appear in

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

s such as ''

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

'' and ''

Railroad Man's Magazine ''Railroad Magazine'' was a pulp magazine founded by Frank Anderson Munsey and published October 1906 to January 1979. It was the first specialized pulp magazine with stories and articles about railroads. The magazine merged with ''Railfan'' to ...

''. His 1912 novella "Brethren of the Beach" was later expanded into a novel; the expanded version was published in ''Adventure'', and also in ''

Cassell's Magazine ''Cassell's Magazine'' is a British magazine that was published monthly from 1897 to 1912. It was the successor to ''Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper'', (1853–1867) becoming ''Cassell's Family Magazine'' in 1874, ''Cassell's Magazine'' in 1897 ...

'' in the UK. ''Brethren of the Beach'' was later published as a hardback book. Couzens was a member of the

Adventurers' Club of New York The Adventurers' Club of New York was an adventure-oriented private men's club founded in New York City in 1912 by Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor of the popular pulp magazine ''Adventure''. There were 34 members at the first meeting. In its seco ...

. He died of tuberculosis in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, in April 1914. He was survived by his wife, Virginia, and his three-year-old son, Robert Knight Couzens. Virginia Couzens (née Lucas) was a granddaughter of Robert Lucas, first governor of the

Iowa Territory The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remaind ...

. The Couzens' marriage license was issued on April 14, 1909, in San Francisco when both were aged 38. Virginia Couzens died in January 1940.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couzens, H. D. 1872 births 1914 deaths Date of birth missing American male writers American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Arizona 20th-century American male writers Pulp fiction writers