David H. Keller

𝓦𝐓 David Henry Keller, M.D. (1880 - 1966) was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, as well as a practicing psychiatrist. Born in Philadelphia, he wrote purely as a hobby for decades until he sold his first sci-fi tale, "The Revolt of the Pedestrians", which appeared in the February 1928 issue of Amazing Stories. Hugo Gernsback was impressed by Keller's unique handling of sci-fi concepts and encouraged him to write more. For the next decade, Keller contributed frequently to Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and other magazines, and published a number of novels.

Outside of his literary career, Dr. Keller served in the US Army Medical Corps during both World Wars, and used his knowledge of psychiatry to treat those afflicted with shell shock. He wrote articles on sex education and acted as editor to Gernsback's magazine Sexology.

Keller contributed to the Cthulhu Mythos with the satirical story "The Final War", first published in 1949, which describes the apocalyptic war waged by Cthulhu against humanity.

Keller's essay "Shadows Over Lovecraft", published in the Summer 1948 issue of Fantasy Commentator, attempts a psychiatric analysis of the late H. P. Lovecraft.

Arkham House published two collections of Keller's stories: Tales from Underwood in 1952, and The Folsom Flint and Other Curious Tales in 1969. During a period of financial instability for the publishing house, Keller spontaneously wrote a check in the amount of $2,500 and sent it to August Derleth as a loan at 3%. This act of generosity helped keep Arkham House afloat during this difficult period.

Keller was one of the many pulp authors who were spoofed in the comedic short story "The Battle that Ended the Century", by H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. The story pairs him with Miles J. Breuer (another author who, like Keller, was also a medical doctor) and portrays the two as a pair of surgeons named "Drs. D. H. Killer and M. Gin Brewery", who treat those who partook of the cream-puffs sold by a certain "Wladislaw Brenryk".

Selected Bibliography

Short Stories

• "The Final War" (1949)

Essays

• "Shadows Over Lovecraft" (1948)

External Links

• David H. Keller, M.D. at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database