Evelyn Charles Henry Vivian ( – ) was the pseudonym of Charles Henry Cannell, a British editor and writer of fantasy and

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

novels and stories.

Biography

Prior to becoming a writer, Cannell was a former soldier in the Boer War and journalist for '' The Daily Telegraph''. Cannell began writing novels under the pen-name "E. Charles Vivian" in 1907. Cannell started writing fantastic stories for the arts magazine ''Colour'' and the aviation journal ''Flying'' (which Cannell edited after leaving the ''Telegraph'') in 1917–18, sometimes publishing them under the pseudonym "A.K. Walton".''St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers'', p. 577-80. Vivian is best known for his Lost World fantasy novels such as ''City of Wonder'' and his series of novels featuring supernatural detective Gregory George Gordon Green or "Gees" which he wrote under his "Jack Mann" pseudonym. Vivian also wrote several science-fiction stories, including the novel ''Star Dust'' about a scientist who can create gold. Critic Jack Adrian has praised Cannell's lost-world stories as ''"bursting with ideas and colour and pace"'', and ''"superb examples of a fascinating breed"''. Influences on Vivian's work included

Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

, H.G. Wells, Arthur Machen and the American novelist

Arthur O. Friel Arthur Olney Friel (31 May 1885 – 27 January 1959) was one of the most popular writers for the adventure pulps. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Friel, a 1909 Yale University graduate, had been South American editor for the Associated Press which le ...

. Vivian also published fiction under several other pseudonyms, including Westerns as "Barry Lynd". Adrian has noted that some of the pseudonyms Cannell used ''"will never now be identified"''. For younger readers, Vivian wrote ''Robin Hood and his Merry Men'', a retelling of the Robin Hood legend. Vivian also edited three British pulp magazines. From 1918 to 1922 Vivian edited ''The Novel Magazine'', and later, for the publisher Walter Hutchinson (1887–1950), ''Hutchinson's Adventure-Story Magazine'' (which serialised three of Vivian's novels) and ''Hutchinson's Mystery-Story Magazine''.''Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', pp. 448–49. In addition to UK writers, Vivian often reprinted fiction from American pulp magazines such as '' Adventure'' and '' Weird Tales'' in the Hutchinson publications. Outside the field of fiction, Vivian was noted for the non-fiction book, ''A History of Aeronautics''. Some of the popular errors about his life are now corrected in the first and only full-length biography, ''The Shadow of Mr Vivian: The Life of E. Charles Vivian (1882-1947)'' by

Peter Berresford Ellis Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943) is a British historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 98 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 100 ...

, PS Publishing Ltd, Hornsea, UK, 2014.

Works

Gees Series

# ''Gees First Case'' (1936) # ''Grey Shapes'' (1937) # ''Nightmare Farm'' (1937) # ''The Kleinart Case'' (1938) # ''Maker of Shadows'' (1938) # ''The Ninth Life'' (1939) # ''The Glass Too Many'' (1940) # ''Her Ways Are Death'' (1940)

Rex Coulson

# ''Coulson Goes South'' (1933) # ''Reckless Coulson'' (1933) # ''Dead Man's Chest'' (1934) # ''Egyptian Nights'' (1934) # ''Coulson Alone'' (1936) # ''Detective Coulson'' (1936)

Fields of Sleep

# '' Fields of Sleep'' (Fantasy, 1923) # ''People of the Darkness'' (Fantasy, 1924)

Terence Byrne

# ''Girl in the Dark'' (1933) # ''The Man With the Scar'' (1940) # ''Vain Escape'' (1952)

Jerry Head

# ''Accessory After'' (1934) # ''Shadow on the House'' (1934) # ''Seventeen Cards'' (1935) # ''Cigar for Inspector Head'' (1935) # ''Who Killed Gatton?'' (1936) # ''With Intent to Kill'' (1936) # ''38 Automatic'' (1937) # ''Tramp's Evidence/The Barking Dog Murder Case'' (1937) # ''Evidence in Blue/The Man in Grey'' (1938) # ''The Rainbow Puzzle'' (1938) # ''Problem by Rail'' (1939) # ''Touch and Go'' (1939)

Robin Hood

# ''Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1906) # ''Robin Hood and His Merry Men'' (1927)

Others

* ''The Shadow of Christine'' (1907) * ''The Woman Tempted Me'' (1909) * ''Wandering of Desire'' (1910) * ''Following Feet'' (1911) * ''Passion-Fruit'' (1912) * ''Divided Ways'' (1914) * ''The Young Man Absalom'' (1915) * ''The Yellow Streak: A story of the South African veld'' (1921) * ''City of Wonder'' (Fantasy, 1922) * ''Broken Couplings'' (1923) * ''The Guarded Woman'' (1923) * ''A Scout of the '45'' (Historical Novel, 1923) * ''Barker's Drift'' (1924) * ''The Lady of the Terraces'' (Fantasy, 1925) * ''Ash'' (1925) * ''Star Dust'' (1925) * ''A King There Was'' (Fantasy, 1926) equal to ''The Lady of the Terrace''* ''The Passionless Quest'' (1926) * ''The Forbidden Door'' (Fantasy, 1927) * '' Shooting Stars'' (Film Adaptation, 1928) * ''Man Alone'' (1928) * ''Nine Days'' (1928) * ''The Moon and Chelsea'' (1928) * ''The Tale of Fleur'' (Fantasy, 1929) * ''Woman Dominant'' (Fantasy, 1930) * ''Guardian of the Cup'' (1930) * ''One Tropic Night'' (1930) * ''Double or Quit'' (1930) * ''Delicate Fiend'' (1930) * ''Unwashed Gods'' (1931) * ''Innocent Guilt'' (1931) * ''And the Devil'' (1931) * ''Infamous Fame'' (1932) * ''False Truth'' (1932) * ''Ladies in the Case'' (1933) * ''The Keys of the Flat'' (1933) * ''Jewels Go Back'' (1934) * ''The Capsule Mystery'' (1935) * ''The Black Prince'' (Historical, 1936) * ''The Impossible Crime'' (1940) * ''And Then There Was One'' (1941) * ''Curses Come Home'' (1942) * ''Dangerous Guide'' (1943) * ''Samson'' (1944) * ''She Who Will Not-'' (1945) * ''Other Gods'' (1945) * ''Arrested'' (1949)

Westerns

(as Barry Lynd) * ''Dude Ranch'' (1938) * ''Trailed Down'' (1938) * ''Riders to Bald Butte'' (1939) * ''Ghost Canyon'' (1939) * ''The Ten-Buck Trail'' (1941) * ''George on the Trail'' (1942)

Non-fiction

* ''The British Army from Within'' (c. 1914) * ''Peru'' (1914) * ''With the Royal Army Medical Corps at the Front'' (c, 1915) * ''With the Scottish Regiments at the Front'' (1916) * ''A History of Aeronautics'' (1921)

Footnotes

References

* Jack Adrian,"Vivian, E(velyn) C(harles)", in the ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', edited by David Pringle. St. James Press, 1996,pp. 577–80. * * Peter Berresford Ellis, ''The Shadow of Mr Vivian: The Life of E. Charles Vivian (1882-1947)'', PS Publishing Ltd, Hornsea, UK, 2014. * * * John Clute; Peter Nicholls. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press. . *

External links

* * * *
E. C. Vivian
at Manybooks.net * (as by Vivian; see also linked pseudonyms) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vivian, Evelyn Charles Henry 1882 births 1947 deaths English non-fiction writers English magazine editors English fantasy writers English crime fiction writers English horror writers English science fiction writers Western (genre) writers English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers