Austin Hall

Background

Austin Javen Hall was born about 1885 in California. His father, J.S. Hall, was a blacksmith, and his mother was named Isabelle Hall.

By 1900, Hall’s mother remarried and followed her new husband, Wallace McCreery, on his way to Brecksville, Ohio.

Education

Austin Hall attended Ohio Northern University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

Austin Hall’s first story, ‘Almost Immortal’, published on October 7, 1916 issue of All-Story Weekly (later known as Argosy) magazine, was written while he was working as a cowboy on a farm. Then, three other pulp fiction works were featured in the periodical, including ‘The Rebel Soul’, its sequel ‘Into the Infinite’, and ‘The Man Who Saved the Earth’. By the beginning of the new decade, Hall established himself as an accomplished magazine writer.

Hall’s collaboration with Homer Eon Flint, ‘The Blind Spot’, earned recognition for both of the authors when it was published serially in the magazine Argosy. The story focused on the discovery of the ‘Spot,’ a rift in the space-time continuum that allowed the book’s characters to travel into a parallel universe. The beginning and the end chapters were authored by Hall while the rest was made by Flint.

After the collaboration, Hall created two more works, ‘People of the Comet’ for Weird Tales magazine and a sequel to ‘The Blind Spot’, entitled ‘The Spot of Life’, published in Argosy from August to September 1932. It became his last important science fiction credit.

Achievements

• Although critics have faulted Austin Hall for using simple language and occasionally awkward grammar, they have praised his ability to introduce readers to fantastic worlds.
  
  Hall’s ‘The Blind Spot’ and ‘The Spot of Life’ were reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Amazing Stories magazines, and appeared in a book form during the 1940s. It was about nine book republications of ‘The Spot of Life’.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Into the Infinite

    (The full-length novel by Austin Hall, which first appeare...)

    1919
  • The Blind Spot

    (A science fiction novel written in collaboration with Hom...)

    1951
  • People of the Comet 1948
  • The Spot of Life 1965
  • The Man Who Saved The Earth 1926
  • Unto the Children: A Story of the Redwoods 1924

Connections

Austin Hall married a woman named May about 1910. They had a son Javen.

Father:

J. S. Hall

Mother:

Isabell Hall

Spouse:

May Hall

stepfather:

Wallace McCreery

Son:

Javen Hall