95 Facts About Talbot Mundy

Talbot Mundy relocated to East Africa, where he worked as an ivory poacher and then as the town clerk of Kisumu.

Talbot Mundy soon began selling short stories and non-fiction articles to a variety of pulp magazines, such as Argosy, Cavalier, and Adventure.

Talbot Mundy involved himself in various failed business ventures, including an oil drilling operation in Tijuana, Mexico.

Talbot Mundy's work has been cited as an influence on a variety of later science-fiction and fantasy writers, and he has been the subject of two biographies.

Talbot Mundy was born as William Lancaster Gribbon on 23 April 1879 at his parental home of 59 Milson Road, Hammersmith in West London.

Talbot Mundy's father, Walter Galt Gribbon, had been born in Leeds, Yorkshire as the son of a porcelain and glass merchant.

Talbot Mundy's father owned a successful accountancy business and was director of the Woking Water and Gas Company, as well as being an active member of the Conservative Party and Primrose League.

Talbot Mundy was a devout Anglican, serving as warden at St Luke's Church.

The family went on summer holidays to southern coastal towns such as Hythe, Sandgate, and Charmouth, with Talbot Mundy spending time visiting relatives in Bardney, Lincolnshire.

Talbot Mundy attended Grove House, a preparatory school in Guildford, Surrey, before receiving a scholarship to attend Rugby School, where he arrived in September 1893.

In 1895 his father died of a brain hemorrhage, and Talbot Mundy henceforth became increasingly rebellious.

Talbot Mundy left Rugby School without any qualifications in December 1895; in later years he recalled bad memories of the institution, comparing it to "prisons run by sadists".

Talbot Mundy worked briefly for a newspaper in London, although the firm closed shortly after.

Talbot Mundy left England and moved to Quedlinburg in northern Germany with his pet fox terrier.

Talbot Mundy didn't speak German but secured work as an assistant driver towing vans for a circus; after a colleague drunkenly killed his dog he left the job.

Talbot Mundy's assignment was to report on the Mahsud uprising against the British administration led by Mulla Pawindah.

Talbot Mundy wife returned to London, and they never saw each other again.

Talbot Mundy claimed that while near Shirati, he was shot in the leg with a poison spear by a Masai who was stealing his cattle.

Talbot Mundy travelled to Muanza in German East Africa, where he was afflicted with blackwater fever.

Talbot Mundy then worked as an elephant hunter, collecting and selling ivory.

In later years he alleged that he met Frederick Selous at this juncture, although Talbot Mundy's biographer has pointed out that Selous was not in East Africa at this time.

Christian missionaries pressured Talbot Mundy into overseeing a program of providing clothes for the native population, who often went naked; he thought this unnecessary, although designed a goat-skin apron for them to wear.

Talbot Mundy made the acquaintance of a magico-religious specialist, Oketch, of the Kakamega Kavirondo tribe, who healed him after a hunting accident.

Talbot Mundy informed his wife of these activities, thus suggesting that she sue him for divorce; the divorce was granted in May 1908.

Talbot Mundy did so, and published his first short story, "A Transaction in Diamonds", in the February 1911 issue of Frank Munsey's magazine, The Scrap Book.

Talbot Mundy continued writing for the magazine, as well as for The Scrap Book, Argosy, and Cavalier.

In 1912, Talbot Mundy published sixteen short stories and four articles in Adventure, seven of which were under the name "Walter Galt".

In 1912, Adventure had established The Adventurer's Club, of which Talbot Mundy became a chartered member.

Talbot Mundy moved into an apartment in Greenwich Village, which for a short time he shared with Hoffman's assistant Sinclair Lewis.

Talbot Mundy involved himself in the activities of his new home, becoming chairman of the local agricultural committee and joining the Norway Committee on Public Safety.

In Norway, Talbot Mundy authored his first novel, For the Peace of India, which was set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Talbot Mundy then began work on a second novel, The Winds of the World, which told the story of a Sikh officer, Risaldar-Major Ranjoor Singh, who sets out to expose a German spy who is attempting to foment an uprising in British India; during the course of the story he introduced Yasmini as a character.

Talbot Mundy authored comparatively few short stories in 1916 as he focused on his third novel, King of the Khyber Rifles, which told the story of Captain Athelstan King of the British India Secret Service and his attempt to prevent a German-backed jihad break out against the British administration in the North-West Frontier.

In 1917 only two of Talbot Mundy's short stories appeared in Adventure; the first was a reprint of "The Soul of a Regiment", while the second was a sequel, "The Damned Old Nigger"; in a 1918 readership survey, these were rated as the first and third most popular stories in Adventure, respectively.

Talbot Mundy devoted the latter to his friend Elmer Davis, and gifted a copy to the British monarch George V, who was Commander-in-Chief of the 14th Ferozepore Sikhs.

Talbot Mundy was convinced to advertise his books in the group's newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor.

Talbot Mundy agreed to become the president of The Anglo-American Society, a Christian Science group devoted to providing aid for Palestine, which had recently been conquered by the British from the Ottoman Empire.

Talbot Mundy became vice president of the Society's magazine, New Earth News.

In December 1919, Talbot Mundy decided to travel to Palestine, to aid the Society in establishing the Jerusalem News, the first-English language newspaper in the city.

Talbot Mundy witnessed the conflict between Arab and Jewish populations within the city, and was present during the Nebi Musa riots.

Talbot Mundy had repeatedly lent money to Mundy, who was now heavily in debt to them.

In October 1921, Talbot Mundy left New York and settled in Reno, Nevada, where Ames joined him.

Talbot Mundy initiated divorce proceedings against Rosemary in a Reno court.

Talbot Mundy denied the allegations, and the judge dismissed Talbot's case, adding that from the evidence Rosemary herself would be entitled to sue for divorce, which she nevertheless refused to do.

Talbot Mundy meanwhile continued writing prolifically, producing 19 novel-length stories from 1921 through to the end of 1923, something that he found particularly tiring.

Taves described Caves of Terror as "a landmark in Talbot Mundy's career", being "one of [his] most unusual and extraordinary novels".

Talbot Mundy had continued writing, producing The Nine Unknown, a Jimgrim novel which again exhibited Mundy's interest in Indian religious ideas.

In 1922, Talbot Mundy resigned from the Mother Church of Christian Science.

Talbot Mundy was increasingly interested in Theosophy, and on 1 January 1923 he joined the Theosophical Society Pasadena, with Ames joining later that month.

In 1923, Talbot Mundy became part of Tingley's cabinet, a position normally reserved for Theosophical veterans; he remained an active member of the cabinet until after Tingley's death in 1929.

Talbot Mundy would be a regular contributor to the magazine through 1924 and 1925, and would continue to do so with less frequency until 1929.

Talbot Mundy wrote a preface for Tingley's 1925 book The Wine of Life.

At the recommendation of director Fred Niblo, whom Mundy had known in Africa, in early 1923 the producer Thomas H Ince hired Mundy as a screenwriter.

For Ince, Talbot Mundy produced a novelisation of a Western film, When Trails Were New, which dealt with the interactions between Native Americans and European settlers in the Wisconsin woodlands of 1832.

Talbot Mundy later criticised the novel, with Taves describing it as "unquestionably one of Mundy's worst stories".

Talbot Mundy continued to write his own stories; in December 1922, Adventure published Talbot Mundy's Benefit of Doubt, which was followed by a sequel, Treason, in January 1923.

Talbot Mundy followed this with Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley, which was serialised in Adventure from October to November 1924, before publication by Bobbs-Merrill.

At the prompting of several letters, Talbot Mundy began work on a sequel, Ramsden, which appeared in Adventure in June 1926 before being published by Bobbs-Merrill under the title of The Devils Guard.

Talbot Mundy remained with the Roman Empire for a novel focusing on the final months of the Emperor Commodus; it was serialised as The Falling Star by Adventure in October 1926 and later published in book form by Hutchinson as Caesar Dies in 1934.

Talbot Mundy closed in July 1931, having been a financial failure; they had failed to locate any oil and one of the syndicate's partners proved to be a con man who had stolen much of their funds.

Talbot Mundy officially separated from Ames the following month, leaving his Tilgaun home to her.

In New York, Talbot Mundy had resumed his friendship with Natacha Rambova, whom he had first met at Point Loma.

Talbot Mundy then wrote an introduction to Wehner's autobiography, A Curious Life, reflecting his own growing interest in Spiritualism.

In 1928, Talbot Mundy took on Brandt and Brandt as his new literary agents, becoming a close friend of co-owner Carl Brandt.

At his agent's prompting, Mundy ceased publishing with Bobbs-Merrill and switched to The Century Company, soon renamed D Appleton-Century, who sold far more copies of his books than Bobbs-Merrill had.

Talbot Mundy engaged in a variety of activities, including purchasing real estate, copyright, and inventions, although had foundered within months.

In March 1932, Talbot Mundy sold the film rights of The Ivory Trail to Universal Studios, who used it as the basis for Jungle Mystery, a film that was first released as a 12 episode serial and then as a full feature in 1935.

The changing nature of the market meant that Talbot Mundy had to write an increasing number of short stories in the final decade of his life, something that he was not happy about.

Talbot Mundy published work in American Sunday newspaper supplements like This Week and American Weekly, as well as in the Canadian Maclean's, and the British Britannia and Eve and The Passing Show.

Talbot Mundy created a series of stories focusing on the character of Ben Quorn, the first instalments of which appeared in Adventure over the course of late 1928 and early 1929, the latter in Argosy.

Talbot Mundy produced a series of short stories, novelettes, and novels about the Criminal Investigation Division of India, most of which featured either Larry O'Hara or Chullunder Ghose as their protagonist.

Talbot Mundy later rewrote The Elephant Waits as the novelette The Night the Clocks Stopped, in which Ghose was removed altogether.

At the Master Apartments, Talbot Mundy had written Black Light, and while he was unable to get it serialised, it was published by both Bobbs-Merril and Hutchinson in October 1930, to mixed reviews.

Talbot Mundy returned to the setting of Tibet for two of his final novels, The Thunder Dragon Gate and its sequel, Old Ugly Face, which featured the adventures of the American Tom Grange who combatted attempts by the Russian, Japanese, and German governments to seize control of the Himalayan kingdom.

Talbot Mundy sent it to publishers under a pseudonym, but at the time it was rejected; it would be posthumously published as I Say Sunrise in 1947.

Amid the economic problems of the Great Depression, Talbot Mundy began seeking out alternative forms of income to supplement his writing, beginning to give occasional lectures.

Talbot Mundy began regularly writing scripts for the radio show Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, producing around seven hundred scripts in all; these brought in a regular income until his death.

Talbot Mundy retained an interest in political developments in Europe, and was critical of both fascism and Marxism-Leninism, characterising Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Talbot Mundy died at home, during sleep, on 5 August 1940, aged 61.

Talbot Mundy was known to be very generous to his family and to his friends within the Theosophical movement.

Talbot Mundy worked seven hours a day, six days a week, typically arising at three or four in the morning.

Talbot Mundy never produced a written outline of his stories prior to writing them.

Talbot Mundy was fascinated by mysticism, and explored various religions throughout his life.

Taves stated that through his literature, Talbot Mundy was "engaged in a lifelong discourse on philosophy and religion", including Eastern ideas on subjects like karma and reincarnation which would later be popularised by the New Age Movement.

Talbot Mundy was able to describe locales and foreign beliefs with a convincing touch of authenticity, combining knowledge from other books, popular legends, and his own travel writings and friendships with a vivid imagination, leaving the reader unable to discern what was fact and what was fiction.

Talbot Mundy had strong political views, expressing contempt for the British establishment and promoting an egalitarian ethos, although not so far as to become a socialist.

Talbot Mundy had been a supporter of President Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal although in the final years of his life became more politically conservative.

In keeping with his critical attitude toward the British Empire, Talbot Mundy expressed support for Indian independence.

Ellis claimed that unlike many of his contemporaries, Talbot Mundy's work has not been accused of adopting a racialist attitude toward non-caucasian peoples.

Biographer Brian Taves felt that Talbot Mundy exhibited feminist sympathies in his work, suggesting that Yasmini, the strong, independent Hindu character that he developed in 1914, was clear evidence of this.

Talbot Mundy further added that throughout the series, female characters are frequently "the leading players in his stories, ambitious, likeable, out-thinking and dominating men," with these female depictions typically being "believable [and] multi-dimensional".

Talbot Mundy was best known for King of the Khyber Rifles although his most critically acclaimed book was Om, and he personally considered Old Ugly Face to be his magnum opus.

Talbot Mundy's work has been translated into a variety of European and Asian languages.

Talbot Mundy's work witnessed a posthumous growth of fan interest, with Taves describing this as a "devoted but necessarily limited following".

That same year, Grant published Ellis' biography of Talbot Mundy, which was based on the Bobbs-Merrill correspondence held at Indiana University.