author
Edmund Snell
1889–1972
A prolific British writer of the interwar years, he turned out fast-moving thrillers, mysteries, and a handful of strange science-fiction tales. His best-known novel, Kontrol, mixes mad science, espionage, and futuristic adventure in a way that still feels vivid today.
1 Audiobook
The crimson butterfly
by Edmund Snell
About the author
Born in London on September 5, 1889, Edmund Snell was a British author who published widely between the 1920s and 1930s. Reference sources describe him as especially prolific in thrillers and mysteries, often setting his stories in Asia and sometimes building titles around colors.
He is now most often remembered for his speculative fiction. Works such as Blue Murder, The Sound-Machine, The "Z" Ray, and especially Kontrol show his taste for sensational ideas: disintegrating rays, dangerous inventions, and scheming scientists. Kontrol, published in 1928, is generally treated as his standout science-fiction novel.
Snell died in Worthing, Sussex, in September 1972. Although he is not as widely known as some of his contemporaries, his books still attract readers interested in vintage crime fiction, pulp adventure, and early British science fiction.