James Fiske

James Fiske is the name attached to a group of early 20th-century adventure novels, especially wartime stories for younger readers such as The Belgians to the Front, Facing the German Foe, Fighting in the Alps, and Under Fire for Servia.

Reliable catalog and reference sources suggest this was not a straightforward personal byline. Project Gutenberg lists James Fiske as an author, but library records for some of the books credit William Almon Wolff (1885–1933), while reference sources on Georgia Roberts Durston note that she also wrote under the pen name Colonel James Fiske. In other words, James Fiske appears to have been used as a house or pseudonymous name connected with popular adventure fiction of the period.

Because the historical record is mixed, it is safest to remember James Fiske less as a clearly documented individual author and more as a publishing name associated with vivid World War I juvenile fiction. These stories were written to be exciting and accessible, with a strong sense of peril, movement, and patriotic feeling.