G.T. Fleming-Roberts(1910-1968)
- Writer
G.T. Fleming-Roberts was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1910, as George
Thomas Roberts. His father was a veterinary surgeon who taught at
Indiana's Purdue University, and Roberts (nicknamed "Tommy") intended
to follow in his father's footsteps. He graduated college and applied
for a teaching license, and while waiting to hear if he had been
accepted or not, he had written four short detective stories and sent
them off to publishers. All were rejected. Trying to discover what he
had done wrong, he came into contact with a literary agent who gave him
some valuable advice on how to write and sell stories, and Thomas was
so impressed with him that he kept him on as his agent. The man also
advised that a name change might help his career, so George Thomas
Roberts became G.T. Fleming-Roberts
Roberts' work was almost exclusively in the mystery field, though he did occasionally branch off into action/adventure and semi-supernatural stories. He did write novels and some non-fiction articles, but the majority of his output appeared in what were called the "pulp" magazines, publications that specialized in such genres as hard-boiled detectives stories, science-fiction/monsters from outer space epics and supernatural "weird" tales.
Roberts was one of the most prolific of the pulp writers, and created several series with such leading characters as "The Ghost", "The Black Hood", "Captain Zero", "Jeffrey Wren", "Pat Oberron" and "Dan Fowler". Two of his stories were made into films--Find the Blackmailer (1943) and Lady Chaser (1946), based on his story "The Lady Killer".
In the early 1950s, as the pulp market started to fade away and many of the magazines that published his stories went out of business, Roberts spent more and more time traveling the country lecturing would-be authors on writing techniques and how to sell stories, and he also got involved in local Indiana politics.
Geoge Thomas Roberts died in Indiana in October of 1968, aged 58.
Roberts' work was almost exclusively in the mystery field, though he did occasionally branch off into action/adventure and semi-supernatural stories. He did write novels and some non-fiction articles, but the majority of his output appeared in what were called the "pulp" magazines, publications that specialized in such genres as hard-boiled detectives stories, science-fiction/monsters from outer space epics and supernatural "weird" tales.
Roberts was one of the most prolific of the pulp writers, and created several series with such leading characters as "The Ghost", "The Black Hood", "Captain Zero", "Jeffrey Wren", "Pat Oberron" and "Dan Fowler". Two of his stories were made into films--Find the Blackmailer (1943) and Lady Chaser (1946), based on his story "The Lady Killer".
In the early 1950s, as the pulp market started to fade away and many of the magazines that published his stories went out of business, Roberts spent more and more time traveling the country lecturing would-be authors on writing techniques and how to sell stories, and he also got involved in local Indiana politics.
Geoge Thomas Roberts died in Indiana in October of 1968, aged 58.
