Kathleen Gray Nelson

Kathleen Gray Nelson is a little-documented author whose work survives mainly through library records and public-domain editions rather than through a well-known biographical trail. Project Gutenberg currently lists two books under her name: Tuen, Slave and Empress and The Fox That Wanted Nine Golden Tails.

Tuen, Slave and Empress was published in 1898 by E. P. Dutton & Company and presented as a story "founded upon facts" from the life of the Empress Dowager of China. Her other known book, The Fox That Wanted Nine Golden Tails, is an illustrated fantasy drawing on Japanese folklore, showing a very different side of her imagination.

Because so little verified personal information is readily available, Nelson remains something of a mystery. What does come through clearly is her range: she wrote both historical fiction and fanciful storytelling, and both works have lasted long enough to be preserved, digitized, and rediscovered by new readers.