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Sapper

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

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Pseudonym of UK author Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), who wrote many thrillers and stories of World War One. Initially writing as H C McNeile (the byline used for US editions of all his short stories), "Sapper" became famous for the creation in Bull-Dog Drummond: The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull (1920) of Bull-Dog Drummond, a thuggish antisemitic crime-fighting gentleman vigilante, some of whose adventures contain strong sf elements. Of particular note in this area is The Final Count (1926), a tale set in the very Near Future (1927) and involving the use of a secret Weapon in the form of a devastating contact Poison which is sloshed around with wild abandon. The Checklist below lists only the first four Drummond adventures linked by the recurring Villain Carl Peterson.

The Island of Terror (1931; vt Guardians of the Treasure 1931 as Herman Cyril McNeile), which features a race of ape-men (see Apes as Human), is Lost-Race sf. The Club Stories told in The Dinner Club (coll 1923) include a borderline-fantastic tale of trained, murderous giant spiders "about the size of a big kitten". [JC/DRL]

Herman Cyril McNeile

born Bodmin, Cornwall: 28 September 1888

died Pulborough, Sussex: 14 August 1937

works (highly selected)

series

Bull-Dog Drummond

individual titles

collections

about the author

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