Wenzell Brown

Born in Portland, Maine, Wenzell Brown was an American author and teacher whose career ranged across fiction and nonfiction. He studied at Rollins College, later earned a master's degree from Columbia University, and also taught in places including Puerto Rico and China before turning to writing more fully.

Brown became known in the 1950s for hardboiled crime and delinquency novels, a field in which he built a strong pulp-era reputation. He also wrote true-crime and practical nonfiction, and later published some science fiction, including the novel Possess and Conquer.

One of the most distinctive parts of his life story was his time in Hong Kong during World War II. After the Japanese occupation, he later drew on those experiences in Hong Kong Aftermath, giving his body of work a real-world edge alongside the sensational energy of his popular fiction.