Gunman's Reckoning

INTRODUCTIONFrederick Schiller Faust (1892 – 1944) was an American author known primarily for his Western stories, most of which were published under the pseudonym “Max Brand.” He (as Brand) also created the popular fictional character Dr. Kildare for a series of pulp fiction stories. Dr. Kildare character was subsequently featured over several decades in other media, including a series of American theatrical movies by Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a radio series, two television series, and comics. The young medical intern became his most famous creation, eclipsing his western work. Faust’s other pseudonyms include George Owen Baxter, Evan Evans, George Evans, Peter Dawson, David Manning, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis, Peter Ward and Frederick Frost. As George Challis, Faust wrote the “Tizzo the Firebrand” series for Argosy magazine. The Tizzo stories were historical swashbucklers featuring the titular warrior, set in Renaissance Italy. During early 1944, when Faust, Gruber, and fellow author Steve Fisher were working at Warner Brothers, they often had idle conversations during afternoons, along with Colonel Nee, who was a technical advisor sent from Washington, D.C. One day, charged with whiskey, Faust talked of getting assigned to a company of foot soldiers so he could experience the war and later write a war novel. Colonel Nee said he could fix it for him and some weeks later he did, getting Faust an assignment for Harper’s Magazine as a war correspondent in Italy. While traveling with American soldiers fighting in Italy in 1944, Faust was wounded mortally by shrapnel, ending a brilliant career by one of the pulp field’s greatest writers. * * * * A note for the sensitive: some of the language used is typical of the time in which the story is set and may seem racist by modern standards. Please keep in mind the era in which the book was originally written as you read it. —Karl Wurf Rockville, MD