David H. Keller
David H. Keller (1880-1966) was an American physician and prolific writer, best known for his contributions to science fiction and horror literature. Born in Philadelphia, he faced early challenges with language but developed a passion for reading and writing, ultimately earning a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as a country doctor and a captain in the Army Medical Corps during World War I, Keller shifted his focus to psychiatric medicine and worked at a state hospital in Louisiana.
In the 1920s, he began to pursue writing more seriously, initially publishing a family history and a poetry collection under the pseudonym Henry Cecil. His entry into science fiction was marked by the publication of "The Revolt of the Pedestrians" in 1928, which led to a fruitful collaboration with Hugo Gernsback, a prominent figure in the genre. Keller's work often blended medical knowledge with imaginative storytelling, making him a notable figure in the pulp fiction scene of the time.
Despite experiencing fluctuations in his medical career and some challenges in the publishing world, he continued to write until his later years, producing numerous stories that reflected the evolving landscape of science fiction. Keller's legacy is characterized by his unique blend of medical insight and speculative fiction, although his works have since become less prominent in contemporary discussions of the genre.
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David H. Keller
Writer
- Born: December 23, 1880
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: July 13, 1966
- Place of death: Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Biography
David Henry Keller was born on December 23, 1880, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent his early years in eastern Pennsylvania. He entered grade school at age six but was sent home after half a day because he was unable to speak English or any other language intelligibly. For the next three years, he was taught remedial English and his ambition to communicate nurtured an early interest in reading and writing. Keller reentered grammar school at age nine and rapidly made up lost time. In 1899, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, graduating with a medical degree in 1903. After a year’s internship, Keller moved to rural Russell, Pennsylvania, where he served as a horse-and-buggy doctor for eight years. This was followed by appointments in New Jersey and Illinois, during which he developed an increasing interest in psychiatric medicine. With the outbreak of World War I, Keller served as first lieutenant and captain in the army medical corps. Following his discharge from duty in 1919, he traveled to Louisiana, where he spent most of the next decade working as physician and assistant superintendent of the state hospital.
Keller had been writing stories for his own pleasure since age fifteen, but his ambitions to become a writer came to fruition in the 1920’s. He self-published a family history, The Kellers of Hamilton Township (1922), and under the pseudonym Henry Cecil, a poetry collection, Songs of a Spanish Lover (1924). He also wrote stories that would serve as the foundation of his later publications, The Sign of the Burning Hart (1938), and The Devil and the Doctor (1940).
Keller was widowed and recently remarried, with three daughters to support, when in 1926 his wife showed him a copy of Amazing Stories, a pulp science-fiction magazine, and suggested he try writing for it to augment his income. He sent the magazine a revision of a story he had written two years before and it was accepted immediately. “The Revolt of the Pedestrians,” published in the February 1928 issue, was the first of twelve stories editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback contracted Keller to write. Keller’s stories, often medically informed and filled with wild scientific and sociological extrapolations, were an immediate hit with science-fiction fans and he quickly became one of the most prolific writers for the science-fiction pulps into the 1930’s. At the same time, Keller began writing booklets and articles for publications intended to popularize medical knowledge for the layman. In addition, Keller in 1928 began submitting stories of horror and aberrant psychology to Weird Tales. The following year, he started to publish mainstream stories in Ten Story Book magazine under the pseudonym Amy Worth.
Keller’s life went into a period of upheaval when medical appointments in Tennessee and Illinois fell through and Gernsback’s bankruptcy deprived him of a major literary market. Keller briefly turned to writing full-time, but in less than a year he was appointed assistant superintendent of the Pennhurst State School for mental defectives, a position he held through the end of 1933. Although formally retired from medical practice when World War II began, Keller was called to serve in the army medical reserves from 1941 until 1945. He continued to write for much of the next twenty years after his discharge, sporadically publishing novels and collections of short fiction. Over time his stories, which were once regarded as controversial for their theological speculations and harsh depiction of the battle of the sexes, became outdated for most science-fiction readers. Keller died at Underwood, his home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1966. Much of the fiction he mentions in his autobiographical writings remains unpublished.