author
Albert W. Aiken
1846–1894
A prolific figure in the world of dime novels, this 19th-century American writer also worked on the stage as an actor and playwright. He wrote fast-moving popular fiction for Beadle and Adams and sometimes used the pen name Agile Penn.
6 Audiobooks
The Wolf Demon; or, The Queen of the Kanawha
by Albert W. Aiken
The Rival Trappers: or, Old Pegs, The Mountaineer
by Albert W. Aiken
The skeleton scout; or, The border block
by Albert W. Aiken
Ben, the Trapper; Or, The Mountain Demon: A Tale of the Black Hills
by Albert W. Aiken
Dead Shot; Or, The White Vulture: A Romance of the Yellowstone
by Albert W. Aiken
About the author
Born around 1846, Albert W. Aiken was an American actor, playwright, and writer of dime novels. Sources on his life are scattered, but reliable references agree that he became a notably prolific contributor to popular fiction in the late 19th century, especially for the publishing house Beadle and Adams.
Aiken moved between theater and print, writing plays as well as pulp adventure stories. He is also noted for publishing under the pseudonym Agile Penn, and his play The Witches of New York is among the works most often associated with him.
He died on August 19, 1894. Although he is not as widely remembered today as some of his contemporaries, he remains part of the energetic world of American mass-market fiction that helped shape popular reading in the 1800s.