Charles Alden Seltzer was an American writer. He was a prolific author of western novels, had writing credits for more than a dozen film titles, and authored numerous stories published in magazines, most prominently in Argosy

Argosy (magazine)

Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...

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Life

Seltzer was born in Janesville, Wisconsin

Janesville, Wisconsin

Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...

, the son of Lucien B. Seltzer and Oceania Hart of Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

. Before becoming a successful writer, he was variously a newsboy, telegraph messenger, painter, carpenter and manager of the circulation of a newspaper, building inspector, editor of a small newspaper, and an appraiser.

He married Ella Seltzer, and they had three sons and two daughters. His son Louis, later editor of the Cleveland Press

Cleveland Press

The Cleveland Press was a daily American newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from November 2, 1878, through June 17, 1982. From 1928 to 1966, the paper's editor was Louis Seltzer....

, recalled that the family was quite poor when his father was struggling to break into the writing profession (he wrote two hundred stories before receiving an acceptance). During this time, Seltzer's wife brought him wrapping paper from the butcher to write on.

Seltzer wrote his westerns from the experience of five years living in New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. Towards the end of his life, he was also elected mayor of his home-town, North Olmsted, Ohio

North Olmsted, Ohio

-Business:Moen Incorporated, a fixture and faucet company, is headquartered in North Olmsted. CommutAir, a regional airline, has its operations center in North Olmsted....

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Works

• The Range Riders (1911)
• The Two-Gun Man (1911)
• The Triangle cupid (1912)
• The Coming of the law (1912)
• The Boss of the Lazy Y (1915)
• The Range boss (1916)
• The Vengeance of Jefferson Gawne (1917)
• “Firebrand” Trevison (1918)
• The Ranchman (1919)
• The Trail to yesterday (1919)
• The Trail Horde (1920)
• Beau Rand (1921)
• “Drag” Harlan (1921)
• West! (1922)
• The Way of the buffalo (1924)
• Last Hope Ranch (1925)
• Channing comes through (1925)
• Land of the free (1927)
• The Mesa (1928)
• Mystery range (1928)
• Brass commandments (1928)
• The Valley of the stars (1928)
• The Gentleman from Virginia (1928)
• The Red brand (1929)
• The raider (1929)
• Gone north (1930)
• A Son of Arizona (1931)
• Double cross ranch (1932)
• Lonesome ranch (1933)
• Clear the trail (1933)
• West of Apache pass (1934)
• Silver spurs (1935)
• Kingdom in the cactus (1936)
• Parade of the empty boots (1937)
• Treasure ranch (1940)
• Arizona Jim (1942)
• So long, sucker (1943)

External links

• Charles Alden Seltzer on IMDb
• Charles Alden Seltzer holdings at openlibrary.org