Achmed Abdullah
Description
Achmed Abdullah was an American writer, most noted for his pulp stories of crime, mystery and adventure. He wrote screenplays for some successful films. He was the author of the progressive Siamese drama Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, an Academy Award nominated film made in 1927. He earned an Academy Award nomination for collaborating on the screenplay to the 1935 film The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. - Wikipedia Achmed Abdullah was born in Yalta, in the Crimea, of mixed Russian-Afghan ancestry. In some sources his birthplace is reported as Malta. Abdullah was vague about his parentage, and he never revealed the name to which he was born but apparently he was christened Alexander Nicholayevitch Romanoff. However, he was also know as Achmed Abdullah Nadir Khan el-Durani el Iddrissyeh, whose father, Grand Duke Nicholas Romanoff, was a Russian-Orthodox, cousin to the last Tsar of Russia. To the Muslim name Achmed he was baptized in an Russian-Orthodox Church. Abdullah's mother, Princess Nourmahal Durani, was a Muslim, the daughter of the Emir of Kabul. Accoding to Abdullah, she tried to poison her husband in revenge for his serial infidelities. After the divorce of his parents, Abdullah returned to Kabul with his mother and sister, where he was brought up by his grandparents of his uncle. He was educated in Indian School, Darjeling, and College Louis le Grant, France, from where he moved to England. At Eton School he astonished his schoolmates with his turban and earring. After an education at Oxford and the University of Paris, he became a soldier and a spy. In 1900 Abdullah entered the British army, where he spent many years as a gentleman officer. He served over the world – in India, China, Tibet, France, the Near East, and Africa. Some of Abdullah's stories drew on experiences from this period of his life. In the 1920s Abdullah settled in the United States, where was employed by Hollywood studios on occasion. Most his tales were first published in pulp magazines under the name "Achmed Abdullah" which he preferred more than "Alexander Romanoff." His other pseudonyms were A.A. Nadir and John Hamilton. Abdullah soon gained fame with colorful, enjoyable adventure stories, which fit perfectly in the era of Rudolph Valentino and Lawrence of Arabia. The Man on Horseback (1919) is based on Abdullah's experiences in the American West. Especially after 1920s women readers devoured his romantic adventures with exotic settings. Sometimes they had supernatural elements, as in the collections Wings: Tales of the Psychic (1920) and Mysteries of Asia (1935). Abdullah's autobiography, The Cat Had Nine Lives (1933), is not far from fiction with its vivid tales of his travels and exploits. It is possible that some of the stories were not based on actual events, but as the embodiment of adventurer and writer he fitted well in the fantasy world of Hollywood. His last years Abdullah lived in New York. Abdullah died on May 12, 1945, at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He was married three times, first to Irene Augusta Bainbridge (1884-1955), then to Jean Wick, his literary agent who died in 1939, and then in 1940 to Rosemary Agnes Dolan. - Authors Calendar
Books
FEAR and Other Stories from the Pulps
Achmed Abdullah's name was once synonymous with adventure. He published dozens of novels and hundreds of short stories in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century, thrilling millions of readers throughout the world. He wrote with authority about exotic peoples and places because he had lived a life filled with adventure, serving in the British army and travelling extensively to exotic locales before settling down to a literary career. Here is the first new book of Adbullah's stories in almost seventy years, sampling a broad range of his work. "A Charmed Life" tells of one life-changing night in India, when a white man glimpses and beautiful woman in danger and acts to rescue her. "Framed at the Benefactor's Club" is a fascinating, intricately plotted mystery set in Manhattan. "The Yellow Wife" is a chilling look at Chinese life in Chinatown. "Bismallah!" is a light adventure in Africa, as crooked traders try to put a successful rival company out of business. "Light" is a surprisingly effective supernatural tale. "A Yarkand Survey" tells the story of a corrupt governor who is sent on a survey mission that might cost him his life -- if he isn't careful! And "Fear" is the tale of two thieving white men in Africa and the weird fates that awaited them. Ranging from mystery to adventure to outright horror, from the streets of New York to the rooftops of Calcutta, from London's Chinatown to the jungles of Africa, here are tales of men caught up by plots and mysteries beyond their wildest imaginings! Features a new introduction by pulp scholar Darrell Schweitzer.