James Fellom

James Fellom was an American writer and newspaperman associated with San Jose, California. Contemporary newspaper coverage from 1920 describes him as a local writer finding success in fiction, and a 1917 newspaper item says he was on the Mercury Herald staff and had already published stories in a range of magazines.

The clearest surviving title linked to him is The Rider of the Mohave: A Western Story, an early 20th-century novel that has been preserved by Project Gutenberg. The book’s setting in the Mojave Desert fits the kind of energetic, scene-driven storytelling you might expect from a reporter who knew how to keep events moving.

Later records suggest Fellom died in 1940 at age 60. Those records also describe him not only as an author, but as a newspaperman and publicist, hinting at a career that moved between journalism and popular storytelling.