Sax Rohmer (Author of The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu)

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Sax Rohmer鈥檚 Followers (122)

Sax Rohmer

Born

in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom

February 15, 1883

Died

June 01, 1959

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Science Fiction & Fantasy

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AKA Arthur Sarsfield Ward (real name); Michael Furey.

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.

Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.

He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.

Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ti AKA Arthur Sarsfield Ward (real name); Michael Furey.

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.

Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.

He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.

Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.

His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.

He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters鈥擯aul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet鈥攎ade Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.

Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.

After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").

There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.

His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972. ...more

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Sax Rohmer鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.49 · 8,551 ratings · 1,386 reviews · 416 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (Fu Manchu #1) 3.34 avg rating — 1,969 ratings — published 1913 — 1077 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu 3.60 avg rating — 632 ratings — published 1916 — 245 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hand of Fu-Manchu 3.36 avg rating — 548 ratings — published 1917 — 358 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brood of the Witch-Queen 3.42 avg rating — 533 ratings — published 1918 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mask of Fu-Manchu 3.63 avg rating — 254 ratings — published 1932 — 71 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bat Wing 3.31 avg rating — 247 ratings — published 1920 — 237 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Daughter of Fu-Manchu 3.59 avg rating — 224 ratings — published 1931 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bride of Fu-Manchu 3.64 avg rating — 179 ratings — published 1933 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fu Manchu Omnibus 1 3.81 avg rating — 164 ratings — published 1995 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Yellow Claw (Gaston Max, #1) 3.31 avg rating — 184 ratings — published 1915 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Sax Rohmer…

Series by Sax Rohmer

Fu Manchu (19 books)
by

Sax Rohmer

3.49 avg rating — 5,214 ratings

Gaston Max (4 books)
by

Sax Rohmer

3.35 avg rating — 376 ratings

Paul Harley (3 books)
by

Sax Rohmer,

William Patrick Maynard (Introduction),

Gene Christie (Editor)

3.26 avg rating — 358 ratings

Sumuru (5 books)
by

Sax Rohmer

3.64 avg rating — 134 ratings

"Red" Kerry (2 books)
by

Sax Rohmer

3.56 avg rating — 93 ratings

More series by Sax Rohmer鈥�

Quotes by Sax Rohmer (?)

“How strangely does the adventurous intrude upon the humdrum; for, when it intrudes at all, more often than not its intrusion is sudden and unlooked for. To-day, we may seek for romance and fail to find it: unsought, it lies in wait for us at most prosaic corners of life's highway.”
― Sax Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu

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“There is no incidental music to the dramas of real life. As”
― Sax Rohmer, The Dr. Fu Manchu Collection: The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, and The Hand of Dr. Fu Manchu

3 likes

“Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green.”
― Sax Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu

3 likes

See all Sax Rohmer's quotes »

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Sax Rohmer鈥檚 Followers (122)

Sax Rohmer

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Combine Editions
Sax Rohmer鈥檚 books