CC S844
Francis Stevens
STEVENS, Francis, 1883–1948
- Born
- 18 September 1883, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (Gertrude Mabel Barrows; later Bennett)
- Died
- 2 February 1948, San Francisco, California, United States
- Note
- American pulp writer. Francis Stevens is the byline; Gertrude Barrows Bennett is the legal name. Birth year 1883 is the date used by ISFDB and recent biographical work; some older sources print 1884.
Influence
Gertrude Barrows Bennett, publishing as Francis Stevens, serialized The Citadel of Fear in The Argosy in 1918—lost-world adventure collapsing into supernatural possession. Contemporary readers compared the byline to A. Merritt; later historians, including Sam Moskowitz, argued that Stevens’s work occupies an early position in what came to be called dark fantasy. The claim that she “invented” that category is disputed and is not adopted here. The Library catalogs her with the field’s other founders, not as a curiosity.
Launch bibliography
| Title | Form | First publication | Call number | Where to read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Citadel of Fear | Novel (serial) | First serialized as “Citadel of Fear” in The Argosy, 14 September–26 October 1918 (seven parts). | WF S844 .C58 1918 |
Reading Room |
Where to read
In this Library: The Citadel of Fear. Return to the Reading Room or the Card Catalog.