author
Edward L. (Edward Lytton) Wheeler
1854–1885
A fast, prolific dime novelist of the American West, he created the swaggering outlaw hero Deadwood Dick and helped shape popular frontier fiction in the late 1800s. His stories mixed nonstop action with real figures from the era, giving readers a vivid, sensational version of the West.
3 Audiobooks
Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills
by Edward L. (Edward Lytton) Wheeler
Deadwood Dick Jr. Branded; or, Red Rover at Powder Pocket.
by Edward L. (Edward Lytton) Wheeler
Fritz to the Front, or, the Ventriloquist Scamp-Hunter
by Edward L. (Edward Lytton) Wheeler
About the author
Born in New York around 1854 or 1855, Edward Lytton Wheeler became one of the best-known dime novel writers of his day. He wrote adventure fiction at high speed for the booming cheap-paper market, producing stories that were designed to grab readers quickly and keep them turning pages.
He is remembered above all for creating Deadwood Dick, a hugely popular character who first appeared in 1877. Wheeler's western tales blended invented heroes and villains with famous names from frontier life, including figures such as Calamity Jane and Sitting Bull, which helped make his fiction feel immediate and exciting to contemporary readers.
Wheeler died young in 1885, but his work left a strong mark on popular storytelling. Even though little is firmly documented about his personal life, his novels remain an important part of American pulp and frontier literature, showing how dime novels helped turn the Old West into legend.