Frank Gruber

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, volume 60, pages 166-168. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.

He was the creator of the series Tales of Wells Fargo (1957), The Texan (1958) and Shotgun Slade (1959). He also wrote a very good biography of legendary western writer Zane Grey.

Frank Gruber, one of the "kings of pulp fiction", was born in Elmer, Minnesota. After serving a stint in the army, he took on various writing jobs, including trade journal editor and correspondence school teacher. During the early 1930s he got his break writing "quickie" detective stories for what were known as the "pulps", publications that specialized in short stories in a variety of genres, westerns, detective stories, etc. , that were short on plot but long on action. He created many interesting characters, including the rascal Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick, strongman Sam Gragg. He also created the more well known Simon Lash series. Gruber will always be known, however, for his work in the western genre. He wrote dozens of western novels, many later adapted for the screen; he also wrote several original screenplays, mostly westerns. With the advent of television, Gruber turned his talents to teleplays and cranked out over 200, again mostly in the western genre.