Arthur D. Howden Smith (; 1887–1945) was an American historian and novelist.Robert Sampson, ''Yesterday's Faces: Violent Lives'', Bowling Green State University, 1993, , pp. 177–78.

Life

Arthur Douglas Howden Smith was born in New York. In 1907, he joined the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...

(VMRO) in Sofia. His experiences he recounted in 1908 in the book ''Fighting the Turk in the Balkans'', describing the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia. On returning to the United States, Smith became a reporter for the newspaper the ''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...

''. Michael Cox and Jack Adrian, ''The Oxford Book of Historical Stories''. Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1994. (p.428).

Work

Smith began writing by contributing fiction to pulp magazines; his main market was ''

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 ...

''. Smith also wrote fiction for ''

Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...

''. For ''Adventure'', Smith wrote sea stories about the adventures of Captain McConaughy. There were also historical swashbucklers about a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

, Swain, living in Medieval Orkney and engaged in a terrible feud with the witch Frakork and her blood-thirsty grandson Olvir Rosta – which Smith bases on historical information provided by the Orkneyinga saga. Arthur D

Smith's most famous series were the "Grey Maiden" stories. This revolved around a

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particula ...

d sword created during the reign of Pharaoh

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 2 ...

and its subsequent appearances through world history. Smith also wrote ''"The Doom Trail"'' (1921) and its sequel ''"Beyond the Sunset"'', the adventures of Harry Ormerod, an 18th-century English exile, in the frontier of Colonial North America at the Iroqois country where a fierce struggle is waged with French agents out of Canada for control of the fur trade. Smith was a great admirer of

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 ...

. In ''Porto Bello Gold'' (1924), a prequel to ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' – written with the permission of Robert Louis Stevenson's executor, Lloyd Osbourne – Harry Ormerod's son Robert goes to sea in the company of such famous pirates as

Captain Flint Captain J. Flint is a fictional golden age pirate captain who features in a number of novels, television series, and films. The original character was created by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Flint first appears in ...

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a Character (arts), fictional character and the main antagonist in the novel ''Treasure Island'' (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular cult ...

and

Billy Bones Billy Bones is a fictional character appearing in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel ''Treasure Island''.''Treasure Island.'' In The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (2000).Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1883 994The Old Se ...

and takes part in capturing the treasure which would be recovered in Stevenson's book. Smith also wrote a sequel to Stevenson's ''Kidnapped'', ''Alan Breck Again''. The Ormerod Family saga was continued further in ''The Manifest Destiny'' where Robert Ormerod's great-grandson takes part in the expeditions of the 19th century adventurer William Walker. Smith wrote several books on American history, including a biography of

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

, ''Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of American Achievement'' (1927).Edward J. Renehan, Jr., ''Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt'', Basic Books, , p. 326.

References

External links

* *
Robert Kenneth Jones, Pulp Classics: The Lure of ''Adventure'' (2007)
at Google Books – pp. 35–36, on Smith, "perhaps the most series-minded" ''Adventure'' writer * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Arthur D. Howden 1887 births 1945 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American fantasy writers American historical novelists American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American newspaper reporters and correspondents Pulp fiction writers Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages