author
Hal Ellson
A vivid chronicler of New York’s troubled youth, Hal Ellson drew on firsthand experience to write gritty pulp fiction about gangs, crime, and juvenile delinquency. His novels offer raw, street-level stories shaped by years spent working with adolescents in crisis.
1 Audiobook
Scorpion
by Hal Ellson
About the author
Hal Ellson (1910–October 31, 1994) was an American pulp-fiction author whose work focused largely on juvenile delinquency, gangs, and troubled teenagers. Born in Brooklyn, he worked as a social worker, recreational therapist, and nurse’s aide at Bellevue Hospital, where he encountered many of the young people who later influenced his fiction.
His novels include Duke (1949), Tomboy (1950), The Golden Spike (1952), and Rock (1953). He also wrote short mystery and crime fiction for magazines including Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
Ellson’s writing had a lasting influence on fellow author Harlan Ellison, who credited him with inspiring an interest in juvenile delinquency that shaped his own first novel, Web of the City.