Raymond S. (Raymond Smiley) Spears

Raymond Smiley Spears (1876–1950) was an American writer of western and adventure stories. Sources found for this overview agree that he was born in Belleview, Ohio, and that his father, John Randolph Spears, was a naval historian and journalist while his mother, Celestia Colette Smiley Spears, was a teacher.

Biographical sources also note that he was educated in Philadelphia and later spent time in the Adirondack Mountains because of a throat ailment. That experience seems to have shaped both his fascination with outdoor life and the practical, rugged feel of much of his writing.

Alongside fiction such as westerns and serial adventure tales, Spears published nonfiction on subjects including camping, hiking, trapping, and cabin boats. Archival descriptions of his papers say he also wrote under pseudonyms, especially Jim Smiley, which helps explain the wide range of magazine work associated with his name.