ROHMER, Sax

   Pseudonym of UK journalist and popular thriller writer Arthur Sarsfield Ward (1883-1959). He started writing in 1909 and published in Cassell's Magazine, Collier's Weekly, The Premier Magazine and numerous other early general fiction magazines and BOYS' PAPERS. SR capitalized on contemporary anxiety about the Chinese, generated by the Boxer Rebellion and the fictions of M.P. SHIEL and others, to produce many sensational novels about the Yellow Peril. Most famous is his series about Dr Fu Manchu, a malign scientific genius and leader of a secret Chinese organization bent on world domination. This VILLAIN appeared in The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu (1912-13 The Story Teller as "Fu-Manchu"; fixup 1913; vt The Insidious DrFu-Manchu 1913 US), The Devil Doctor (1914-15 Collier's Weekly as "Fu-Manchu \& Co."; fixup 1916; vt The Return of Dr Fu-Manchu 1916 US), The Si-Fan Mysteries (1916-17 Collier's Weekly; fixup 1917; vt The Hand of Fu-Manchu 1917 US), Daughter of Fu Manchu (1931), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) - filmed as The MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932) - Fu Manchu's Bride (1933 US; vt The Bride of Fu Manchu 1933 UK), The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934), President Fu Manchu (1936), The Drums of Fu Manchu (1938), The Island of Fu Manchu (1941), The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948), Re-Enter Fu Manchu (1957; vt Re-Enter Dr Fu Manchu 1957 UK) and Emperor Fu Manchu (1959). The Wrath of Fu Manchu and Other Stories (coll 1973) assembles various tales. The Book of Fu Manchu (omni 1929 containing 3 novels; exp to 4 novels 1929 US) features the first volumes of the sequence. Although these and other novels by SR are primarily occult thrillers, they contain many sf elements.Apart from this main series, SR wrote several others. The Sumuru series is about an oriental villainess: Nude in Mink (1950 US; vt Sins of Sumuru 1950 UK), Sumuru (1951 US; vt Slaves of Sumuru 1952 UK), Virgin inFlames 1952; vt The Fire Goddess 1952 US), Return of Sumuru (1954 US; vt Sand and Satin 1955 UK) and Sinister Madonna (1956). The Gaston Max series comprises The Yellow Claw (1915), The Golden Scorpion (1919), The Day the World Ended (1930), set in and around a fortress guarded by DEATH RAYS,and Seven Sins (1943). The Paul Harley series consists of Bat-Wing (1921), Fire-Tongue (1921) and 11 short stories. The Red Kerry series - Dope(1919) and Yellow Shadows (1925) - is not sf/fantasy.SR also wrote several stage plays, including an adaptation from C.J. Cutcliffe HYNE's Captain Kettle series. Several of his novels have been made into films (The FACEOF FU MANCHU) and the Dr Fu Manchu sequence was adapted by him into a popular RADIO series.Dr Fu Manchu was widely imitated, notably by Roland Daniels, Anthony RUD and Nigel Vane, and was a strong influence on thedevelopment of the more recent hero/villain quasi-sf thrillers written by Lester DENT, Ian FLEMING and many others. Two direct imitations were theshort-lived magazines The MYSTERIOUS WU FANG and DR. YEN SIN. SR's only book under another name was a supernatural/theological novel, Wulfheim (1950) as by Michael Furey.

   JE

   Other works: The Sins of Severac Bablon (1914); Brood of the Witch Queen (1914 The Premier Magazine; 1918); Tales of Secret Egypt (coll 1918); The Orchard of Tears (1918); The Quest of the Sacred Slipper (1913-14 Short Stories as by Hassan of Aleppo; fixup 1919);The Dream Detective (coll 1920; with 1 story added 1925); The Green Eyes of Bast (1920); The Haunting of Low Fennel (coll 1920); Tales of Chinatown (coll 1922); Grey Face (1924); Moon of Madness (1927), not fantasy; Shewho Sleeps (1928); Yu'an Hee See Laughs (1932), not fantasy; The Emperor of America (1929); Tales of East and West (coll 1932 UK; same title, different stories, coll 1933 US); The Bat Flies Low (1935); White Velvet (1936), not fantasy; The Golden Scorpion Omnibus (coll 1938); The SaxRohmer Omnibus (coll 1938); Salute to Bazarada and Other Stories (coll 1939); The Moon is Red (1954); The Secret of Holm Peel and Other Strange Stories (coll 1970).

   About the author: Sax Rohmer: A Bibliography (1963 chap) by Bradford M. DAY; Master of Villainy (1972) by Cay Van Ash and Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Van Ash also wrote Ten Years Beyond Baker Street(1984), a novel in which Fu Manchu meets Sherlock Holmes.

   See also: CANADA; GOTHIC SF; PULP MAGAZINES; WEAPONS.