John William Wall (6 November 1910 – 11 April 1989), pen name Sarban, was a British writer and diplomat. Wall's diplomatic career lasted more than thirty years, but his writing career as Sarban was brief and not prolific, ending during the early 1950s. Sarban is described in ''

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work concerning fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott R ...

'' as "a subtle, literate teller of tales, conscious of the darker and less acceptable implications that underlie much popular literature". Wall cited the supernatural fiction of

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen (; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. Hi ...

and

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

as influences on his work.

Early life

Wall was born in

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. Situated between Manvers and Denaby Main, it lies on the River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road runs through the town. It is contiguous ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, the son of George William Wall, a passenger guard on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

, and Maria Ellen (née Moffatt) Wall. After Mexborough School, he studied English at Jesus College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and received first-class honors. He also studied Arabic and took the Consular Service Examination. Wall married Eleanor Alexander Riesle on 20 January 1950 and they had one daughter. Wall and his wife were separated legally during 1971.

Diplomatic service

He chose a diplomatic career in the Near East because " ames ElroyFlecker, whose poetry I had loved in my school days, had been in the Levant Consular Service", and owing to "a liking for travel and oriental philology"."Time, A Falconer" by

Mark Valentine Mark Valentine is an English short story author, editor and essayist on book-collecting. Short stories Valentine's short stories have been published in a number of collections and in anthologies. ''The Collected Connoisseur'' (Tartarus Press, 2010 ...

, Tartarus Press, 2010. During 1933, Wall was posted initially as Probationer Vice-Consul at

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Subsequently, he was stationed at

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

in Saudi Arabia,

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

and

Esfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...

in Iran, and

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

in Morocco. After

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was Counsellor at the British Middle East Office in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

until 1952. He was British Ambassador to Paraguay 1957-8 and Consul-General at Alexandria 1963-5. He was honoured in 1953 as a Companion of the Order of St Michael & St George for his diplomatic work. Wall continued to work for the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, at first in a teaching position in London, 1966–1970, and then at the

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Un ...

, a secret surveillance centre, in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

. Wall retired from the Foreign Office during 1977, and retired to

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

Literary works

Sarban's most famous literary work is the alternative-history novel ''

The Sound of His Horn ''The Sound of His Horn'' is a 1952 dystopian time travel/alternative history novel by the senior British diplomat John William Wall, written under the pseudonym Sarban. Peter Nicholls, "The Sound of His Horn", in Frank N. Magill (ed.), ''Survey ...

'' (1952), which presupposes that the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

have won the Second World War and built parks where they hunt genetically altered humans for sport. Sarban also published two collections of fantasy stories: ''Ringstones and Other Curious Tales'' (1951) and ''The Doll Maker and Other Tales of the Uncanny'' (1953). ''The Sacrifice and Other Stories'' (2002) collects four novellas, two of which, the title story and "The Sea-Things", appeared in print for the first time, while "Number Fourteen" had been published in a later edition of ''Ringstones'', and "The King of the Lake" had been added to a later edition of ''The Sound of His Horn''. Further previously unpublished work, including poems, a one-act play, extracts from two novels and unpublished stories, has been collected in ''Discovery of Heretics'' (2010).

Bibliography

*''Ringstones and Other Curious Tales'', Peter Davies, 1951 **also

Tartarus Press Tartarus Press is an independent book publisher based near Leyburn, Yorkshire, UK.

, 2000 (350 copies; adds "Number Fourteen") *''The Sound of His Horn'', Peter Davies, 1952 **also Tartarus Press, 1999 (350 numbered copies; adds "The King of the Lake") *''The Doll Maker Other Tales of the Uncanny'', Peter Davies, 1953. Note: The Ballantine paperback reprint (1960) omits two stories. *''The Sacrifice'', Tartarus Press, 2002 (350 copies) *''Discovery of Heretics'', Tartarus Press, 2011

References

* Sullivan, Jack (1986) "Sarban" ''The Penguin encyclopedia of horror and the supernatural'' Viking, New York, N.Y., USA, * Chapman, E. L. (2002) "Sarban (John W. Wall)" ''In'' Harris-Fain, Darren (2002) ''British fantasy and science-fiction writers, 1918-1960'' Gale Group, Detroit,
Russell, R.B. (2001) "Sarban" ''The Lost Club Journal''

External links

Sarban.co.uk

"Sarban" ''Fantastic Fiction''
* {{Authority control English science fiction writers English horror writers British alternative history writers Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge People from Mexborough 1910 births 1989 deaths British consuls-general in Egypt Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Paraguay 20th-century English novelists Weird fiction writers