Hal K. Wells

Born in 1899 and commonly listed in library records as born in 1900, Harold Kerton Wells wrote as Hal K. Wells and became a familiar name in pulp fiction. Reliable reference sources describe him as an American science fiction writer whose magazine career stretched for decades.

Before and alongside his writing life, he served as a World War I infantry soldier and later worked as a dry goods salesman in Ohio before moving to California. His stories appeared in magazines such as Astounding Stories, Startling Stories, and Thrilling Wonder Stories, and he wrote not only science fiction but also work that crossed into mystery, weird fiction, and other popular pulp genres.

That range helps explain his appeal now: his best stories have the brisk pace and bold imagination of classic magazine fiction, with plenty of danger, odd inventions, and far-flung settings. He died in 1979, leaving behind a body of work that still speaks to readers who enjoy adventurous early science fiction.