author
David Wright O'Brien
1918–1944
A fast, prolific pulp writer, he packed a remarkable number of fantasy and science-fiction stories into just a few years before his life was cut short in World War II. His work captures the energetic, imaginative spirit of early magazine science fiction.
1 Audiobook
Rats in the Belfry
by David Wright O'Brien
About the author
Born in 1918, David Wright O'Brien was an American fantasy and science-fiction writer closely tied to the pulp-magazine world. He was a nephew of Farnsworth Wright, the longtime editor of Weird Tales, and published his first known story, Truth Is a Plague!, in the February 1940 issue of Amazing Stories.
In a very short career, he became strikingly productive. Between 1941 and 1942, dozens of his stories appeared in magazines such as Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures, and he also wrote under several pen names, including John York Cabot. That burst of work helped make him a memorable figure in classic pulp SF, even though his career lasted only a few years.
O'Brien died in 1944 while serving in World War II, giving his story an added poignancy: a young writer with real momentum whose life ended far too soon. Today he is remembered mainly by readers of vintage science fiction and fantasy, who still encounter his stories in reprints and archival collections.