{{Short description|British writer, a.k.a. "Seamark" (1894–1929)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Use British English|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Austin James Small | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | caption = | pseudonym = Seamark | birth_name = Austin Major Small | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1894|07|25}} | birth_place = Luton, Bedfordshire | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1929|01|15|1894|07|25}} | death_place = Kensington, London | genre = Thriller, detective, science fiction, adventure, romance, western, pulp fiction | spouse = Yes }} '''Austin James Small''' (25 July 1894 – 15 January 1929) was an English writer of thriller, detective, science fiction, adventure, romance, and western novels and short stories. Most of Small's titles appeared in Britain under the pen name '''Seamark''', while his American publisher preferred using the name '''Austin J. Small'''. Several film plots were based on his stories.
==Biography== Small was born Austin Major Small in Luton, Bedfordshire on 25 July 1894. He later changed his name to Arthur James Small. He ran away to sea as a boy and travelled the world, serving in the Royal Navy during the First World War, where he was a champion heavyweight boxer.<ref name=Sing>{{cite news |title=Tragic Death of "Seamark." Sailor-Author of Many Novels |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19290223-1.2.38 |publisher=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser |date=23 February 1929 |page=7}}</ref> He met and was inspired to write by Jack London, and adopted the pen name “Seamark” to comply with Admiralty regulations.<ref name=Sing/> He began his literary career in the early 1920s publishing new westerns and detective stories in British pulp magazines.
In 1924 he produced a western novel, ''The Frozen Trail'', and three romantic novels in 1925, before publishing ''Master Vorst'' {{aka}} ''The Death Maker'' (1926), a science fiction novel in which a secret society based in London develops a means of destroying the human species with the help of a bacteriological weapon.<ref name=ESF>{{cite web |title=Small, Austin J |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/small_austin_j |website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: Fourth Edition}}</ref> He went on to write half a dozen detective novels, another science fiction novel, and many short stories.
He was found dead in Kensington, London, on 15 January 1929, from suicide by gas inhalation.<ref name=Sing/> Several of his works were not published until after his death, including his final science fiction novel ''The Avenging Ray'' (1930) in which a mad scientist intends to destroy the Earth using a death ray, and the title story in the collection ''Out of the Dark'' which features a wereleopard.<ref name=ESF/>
==Works== ===Detective novels=== * ''The Silent Six'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1926) * ''The Man They Couldn't Arrest'' (George H. Doran Company, New York, 1925/Hodder & Stoughton, London 1927) * ''The Master Mystery'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1928/Doubleday, New York, 1928) * ''The Vantine Diamonds'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1930/Doubleday, New York, 1930) * ''Down River'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/ ''The Needle’s Kiss'' (Doubleday, New York, 1929), published posthumously * ''The Web of Destiny'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/ ''The Web of Murder'' (Doubleday, New York, 1929), published posthumously * ''The Mystery-Maker'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1929)/(Doubleday, New York, 1930), published posthumously
===Science fiction novels=== * ''Master Vorst'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1926)/''The Death Maker'' (George H. Doran, 1926) * ''The Avenging Ray'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930/Doubleday, Doran - The Crime Club, 1930), published posthumously
===Other novels=== * ''The Frozen Trail'' (Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1924) * ''Love’s Enemy'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1924) * ''Pearls of Desire'' (William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1924/Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1925) * ''Peggy: A Love Romance'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1925)
===Short stories=== Collections: * ''Out of the Dark: A Volume of Stories'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1931), published posthumously * ''Pawns and Kings: Stories by Seamark'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1931), published posthumously
As Seamark: * ''Furrows of Destiny'' (1921) * ''On the Northern Trail'' (1921) * ''End o’ the Trail'' (1921) * ''The Kid'' (1921) * ''Only Siwash'' (1922) * ''Hearts and Diamonds'' (1922) * ''Snowflake'' (1922) * ''Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'' (1922) * ''The Way of a Man'' (1922) * ''Jungle Whispers'' (1922) * ''Crossing Trails'' (1922) * ''Far from Nowhere'' (1922) * ''The Wisdom of Kodiak Tommy'' (1922) * ''The Civilizers'' (1923) * ''Red Man’s Gods'' (1923) * ''Smoke'' (1923) * ''Evergales to Tin Sheds'' (1924) * ''The Overdose'' (1924) * ''The Last Laugh'' (1926) * '' “Thank you, Emmy” '' (1927) * ''Query'' (1931), published posthumously * ''Black Man’s Medicine'' (1931), published posthumously * ''The Seamark Omnibus of Thrills'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1937), published posthumously
As Austin J. Small: * ''Frozen Gold'' (William Heinemann, London, 1924) * ''Thundering Snows'' (1925) * ''Klondike Fires'' (1926) * ''The Silent Death'' (1926) * ''Square Peg'' (1932), published posthumously
==Film adaptations== *''Sailors Don’t Care'' (1928),<ref>{{cite web |title=Sailor's Don't Care |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/49193?view=credit |website=BFI Film & TV Database |publisher=British Film Institute| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090128200232/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/49193?view=credit | archive-date=28 January 2009 }}</ref><ref name=CILSF>{{cite book |editor1-last=Goble |editor1-first=Alan |title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film |date=1999 |publisher=Bowker Saur |isbn=1-85739-229-9 |page=415 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=Seamark&pg=PA358}}</ref> based on a novel *''The Perfect Crime'' (1925),<ref>{{cite web |title=The Perfect Crime (1925) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b2d3fb8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115142540/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b2d3fb8 |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 November 2022 |website=BFI Film & TV Database |publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref> based on a short story *''Down River'' (1931),<ref>{{cite web |title=Down River |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/31780?view=credit&availableLicense=yes |website=BFI Film & TV Database |publisher=British Film Institute| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113171302/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/31780?view=credit&availableLicense=yes | archive-date=13 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name=CILSF/> based on the 1929 novel *''The Man They Couldn't Arrest'' (1931),<ref>{{cite web |title= The Man They Couldn't Arrest (1932) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b73ff2ac5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111215351/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b73ff2ac5 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2020 |website=BFI Film & TV Database |publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref><ref name=CILSF/> based on the 1925 novel *''Murder in Reverse?'' (1945),<ref>{{cite web |title=Murder in Reverse? |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43376 |website=BFI Film & TV Database |publisher=British Film Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113205638/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43376 |archive-date=13 January 2009 }}</ref><ref name=CILSF/> based on the 1931 novel “Query”
==Sources== * {{cite book |language=fr |last1=Baudou |first1=Alban |last2=Schléret |first2=Jean-Jacques |title=Le vrai visage du masque |volume=1 |date=1984 |publisher=Futuropolis Gallisol Editions |location=Paris |oclc=311506692|pages=399–400}} * * {{cite web |title=Small, Austin J. |url=https://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?mode=Basic&vid=BLVU1&vl(freeText0)=austin%20j.%20small&fn=search&tab=local_tab& |website=British Library Main Catalogue}} * {{cite web |title=Seamark - Austin J Small: Bibliography |url=http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/seamark-austin-small.htm |website=Classic Crime Fiction}} * {{cite web |title=Austin J. Small |url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?6692 |website=Internet Speculative Fiction Database}} * {{cite web |title=Small, Austin J. |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchType=7&searchId=2012&maxResultsPerPage=100&recCount=100&recPointer=0&resultPointer=0&headingId=32765892 |website=Library of Congress}} * {{cite web |title=Small, Austin J. |url=https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no96009582/ |website=OCLC WorldCat Identities |access-date=15 November 2022 |archive-date=16 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116063615/https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no96009582/ |url-status=dead }}
==References== <references/>
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0806419|name=Austin Small}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Austin J.}} Category:1894 births Category:1929 deaths Category:20th-century English short story writers Category:20th-century English male writers Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers Category:Adventure fiction Category:British detective fiction writers Category:British male novelists Category:British science fiction writers Category:British thriller writers Category:English crime fiction writers Category:English male novelists Category:English male short story writers Category:English science fiction writers Category:Pulp fiction writers Category:Pulp magazines Category:Western (genre) writers Category:Suicides by gas Category:Suicides in Kensington Category:People from Luton Category:Writers from Bedfordshire