Leroy Yerxa

Born in Old Town, Maine, on August 11, 1915, Leroy Arnold Yerxa was an American pulp writer whose work appeared during the 1940s. Bibliographic and reference sources identify him as a regular contributor to Ziff-Davis magazines, especially Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures, where he published science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

He is also known for writing under several pseudonyms, including Elroy Arno, Alexander Blade, Richard Casey, Lee Francis, Henry Gade, G. H. Irwin, Frank Patton, and Morris J. Steele. That long list of bylines reflects the fast-paced magazine culture he worked in, where writers often produced large amounts of fiction to order.

Yerxa married fellow writer Frances Ferris in 1935, and they had four children. He died on February 28, 1946, at just 30 years old. Even with such a short life, he left behind a sizable body of pulp-era fiction that still draws interest from genre readers and bibliographers.