Arthur D. Howden (Arthur Douglas Howden) Smith

Arthur Douglas Howden Smith (1887–1945) was an American novelist, journalist, and historian born in New York City. As a young man he worked in journalism and, in 1907, traveled to the Balkans, where he spent time with Macedonian revolutionaries; he later drew on that experience in his 1908 book Fighting the Turk in the Balkans.

He became a familiar name in adventure fiction, especially through contributions to Adventure magazine and also Blue Book. His stories often mixed action with a strong sense of history, from the seafaring Captain McConaughy tales to the Viking adventures of Swain and the long-running Grey Maiden sequence built around a legendary sword.

Alongside fiction, he wrote nonfiction and historical works, including The Real Colonel House and Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of American Achievement. Today he is remembered as one of the energetic pulp-era storytellers whose novels and serials helped define classic historical adventure.