Theodore Roscoe
{{Short description|American writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| image =
| imagesize =
| name = Theodore Roscoe
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|02|20}}
| birth_place = Rochester, New York, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|05|29|1906|02|20}}
| death_place = Florida, United States
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Biographer
- historian
- short story writer
- novelist
}}
| nationality = American
| period =
| genre = Adventure, Fantasy, History
| subject = Abraham Lincoln
| website =
}}
Theodore Roscoe (February 20, 1906 – May 29, 1992) was an American biographer and writer of adventure, fantasy novels and stories.
Biography
Roscoe was born in Rochester, New York, the son of missionaries. He wrote for newspapers and later pulp magazines.Lee Server, Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers New York : Facts on File, 2002 {{ISBN|9780816045778}} (p. 226–27) Roscoe's stories appeared in pulp magazines including Argosy, Wings, Flying Stories, Far East Adventure Stories, Fight Stories, Action Stories, Adventure, and Weird Tales. Roscoe travelled widely, included trips to Haiti and North Africa. During a visit to Casablanca, Roscoe befriended a member of the French Foreign Legion. Roscoe later used this man as a model for his fictional Foreign Legion narrator, Thibaut Corday. Roscoe also wrote non-fiction for The American Weekly.Audrey Parente, "Theodore Roscoe: High Class Pulp Fiction" Pulp Adventures Magazine, #23, Fall 2016. Bold Venture Press. (pp. 39-41)
Roscoe's work was praised by H. L. Mencken in a 1929 profile in the Rochester Democrat Chronicle. Mencken said "Many of the so-called literati could learn a lot from Mr. Roscoe. He gets things down with amazing facility". Roscoe was commissioned by the United States Naval Institute to write the detailed and massive histories United States Submarine Operations in World War II (1949) and United States Destroyer Operations in World War II (1953), as well as a 737-page book detailing United States history with a focus on the role of the US Navy (titled This Is Your Navy (1950) and given to navy recruits at boot camp). He subsequently wrote several other books on naval history including The Trent Affair, November, 1861: U.S. detainment of a British ship nearly brings war with England (1972).
A collection of his stories, The Wonderful Lips of Thibong Linh, was published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1981. Altus Press published a three volume collection of his "Thibaut Corday and the Foreign Legion" stories. The biography Pulpmaster: The Theodore Roscoe Story, by Audrey Parente, published by Starmont House (Mercer Island, WA, 1992) was reprinted by Altus in 2012.
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{isfdb name}}
- {{cite book | last=Chalker | first=Jack L. | authorlink=Jack L. Chalker |author2=Mark Owings | title=The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 | location=Westminster, MD and Baltimore | publisher=Mirage Press, Ltd.| pages= 328 | year=1998}}
- {{cite web
| last = Contento
| first = William G.
| authorlink =
| title = The FictionMags Index
| publisher =
| date = 2008-05-04
| url = http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s1746.htm
| doi =
| accessdate = 2008-05-22 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roscoe, Theodore}}
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:American fantasy writers
Category:American male novelists
Category:20th-century American historians
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Novelists from New York (state)
Category:American male short story writers
Category:20th-century American biographers
Category:20th-century American short story writers