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Ad Astra, v. 1, issue 5, January 1940
Page 7
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AD ASTRA Page 7. BIOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING SEABURY QUINN by: Gerald W Meader Seabury Quinn was born in Washington, D.C. on January 1, 1889 where he lived until 1917. He practiced law for seven years, having acquired two law degrees, LL.B. and LL.M. At the outbreak of the World War he entered training camp, expecting to serve in the infantry, but,possibly because of his legal training, was transferred and assigned to intelligence work. After eighteen months of active service, he was honorably discharged and, as his parents had died in the meantime, he decided to knock around for a while. His first position was with the old "Casket", a trade magazine of the Funeral Directors profession. For the next eighteen years he served successfully as reporter, assistant editor, managing editor and editor. During his residence in New York City he married a girl, with whom he had gone to school. They have one son, born July 4, 1926, in Brooklyn;Seabury Quinn Junior. The Quinns now reside in Washington. Seabury (Sr.) is five feet, ten inches tall, weighs 190 lbs, but be assured that "none of his fat sags". Seabury's principal form of amusement, other than reading and writing, is walking; he just follows his nose in all kinds of weather, day or night,whenever the fancy takes him. No doubt many a story has been evolved while on these wandering walks which he delights in. Everyone has pet peeves. Seabury has three. Americans who aren't 100% sold on America; people who try to mind other people's business; and people who don't think the moderns are turning out just as fine writing, both prose and poetry, as any of the "classics". He started writing while in the army, having long periods of duty in which there was nothing more exciting to do than sit beside a telephone. His first accepted story was published in Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine in 1918, and dealt with what was then a novelty in that magazine, a vampire. When Weird Tales started he was one of their first contributors. The first tale for them was "The Phantom Farmhouse", published in the October,1923,issue. This has had a considerable effect on weird literature, and is still occassionally mentioned. 5 years later when Weird Tales republished it as a "reprint", in March,1929, it won first place int he reader-vote. Following this story and "Out of the Long Ago", a story of werewolfism, he turned to fact-articles and ran a series of weird crimes in Weird Tales for about a year. Followed that with a series on the Salem witchcraft persecutions, which ran for almost another year. Title of this second series was "Servants of Satan". A must on your reading list, if you have not already enjoyed this fine story. Seabury has written stories not of a weird nature,for several other magazines. A series, twenty seven in all, of the Military Intelligence under the general title of "The Washington NIght's Entertainment" appeared in Real Detective Tales. Following these was a second series called "The Problems of Professor Forrester", which ran through some eighteen or twenty adventures. Turning the brief life of Magic Carpet Magazine he had a story in every issue, these tales dealing with the adventures of a soldier of fortune. He was more interested in the weird, supernatural and fantastic than in straight crime detection
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AD ASTRA Page 7. BIOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING SEABURY QUINN by: Gerald W Meader Seabury Quinn was born in Washington, D.C. on January 1, 1889 where he lived until 1917. He practiced law for seven years, having acquired two law degrees, LL.B. and LL.M. At the outbreak of the World War he entered training camp, expecting to serve in the infantry, but,possibly because of his legal training, was transferred and assigned to intelligence work. After eighteen months of active service, he was honorably discharged and, as his parents had died in the meantime, he decided to knock around for a while. His first position was with the old "Casket", a trade magazine of the Funeral Directors profession. For the next eighteen years he served successfully as reporter, assistant editor, managing editor and editor. During his residence in New York City he married a girl, with whom he had gone to school. They have one son, born July 4, 1926, in Brooklyn;Seabury Quinn Junior. The Quinns now reside in Washington. Seabury (Sr.) is five feet, ten inches tall, weighs 190 lbs, but be assured that "none of his fat sags". Seabury's principal form of amusement, other than reading and writing, is walking; he just follows his nose in all kinds of weather, day or night,whenever the fancy takes him. No doubt many a story has been evolved while on these wandering walks which he delights in. Everyone has pet peeves. Seabury has three. Americans who aren't 100% sold on America; people who try to mind other people's business; and people who don't think the moderns are turning out just as fine writing, both prose and poetry, as any of the "classics". He started writing while in the army, having long periods of duty in which there was nothing more exciting to do than sit beside a telephone. His first accepted story was published in Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine in 1918, and dealt with what was then a novelty in that magazine, a vampire. When Weird Tales started he was one of their first contributors. The first tale for them was "The Phantom Farmhouse", published in the October,1923,issue. This has had a considerable effect on weird literature, and is still occassionally mentioned. 5 years later when Weird Tales republished it as a "reprint", in March,1929, it won first place int he reader-vote. Following this story and "Out of the Long Ago", a story of werewolfism, he turned to fact-articles and ran a series of weird crimes in Weird Tales for about a year. Followed that with a series on the Salem witchcraft persecutions, which ran for almost another year. Title of this second series was "Servants of Satan". A must on your reading list, if you have not already enjoyed this fine story. Seabury has written stories not of a weird nature,for several other magazines. A series, twenty seven in all, of the Military Intelligence under the general title of "The Washington NIght's Entertainment" appeared in Real Detective Tales. Following these was a second series called "The Problems of Professor Forrester", which ran through some eighteen or twenty adventures. Turning the brief life of Magic Carpet Magazine he had a story in every issue, these tales dealing with the adventures of a soldier of fortune. He was more interested in the weird, supernatural and fantastic than in straight crime detection
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