Charles Alden Seltzer

Born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on August 15, 1875, Charles Alden Seltzer became one of the busy, dependable storytellers of the pulp-Western era. He wrote a large body of Western novels and short fiction, building a career around frontier action, conflict, and rugged heroes.

His stories appeared in widely read magazines, most notably Argosy, and his fiction reached beyond print: more than a dozen film titles were based on or credited to his writing. That crossover from magazine pages to early cinema helped extend his popularity during the first decades of the 20th century.

Seltzer died on February 9, 1942, in Cleveland, Ohio. Many of his novels and stories have remained accessible through public-domain and library collections, which has helped keep his brand of classic Western storytelling in circulation for later readers and listeners.