Bruce Elliott

Born in New York City in 1914, Bruce Elliott built an unusually varied career as a writer, editor, and magician. He wrote mystery fiction, science fiction, and television scripts, and he is also remembered for books on magic that helped introduce many readers to the craft.

He was active in pulp and genre writing in the 1940s and 1950s, contributing stories to magazines including The Shadow and publishing science-fiction novels such as Asylum Earth and The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck. Alongside his fiction work, he became an important figure in magic publishing through Phoenix, the influential magazine he helped launch with Walter B. Gibson and later edited.

That mix of popular storytelling and practical showmanship gives Elliott a distinctive place in 20th-century entertainment history. Whether readers come to him for suspense, speculative fiction, or his magic writing, they meet an author with a lively, wide-ranging imagination.