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James Moss Cardwell

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James Moss Cardwell
Born(1926-01-17)January 17, 1926
Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.
DiedApril 11, 1990(1990-04-11) (aged 64)
Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Pen nameAdobe James
OccupationWriter, educator
Alma materPomona College[1]

James Moss Cardwell (January 17, 1926 – April 11, 1990),[1][2][3][4][Note 1] who used the pen name Adobe James,[5] was an American writer and educator.[6]

He is best known for his horror stories, such as The Ohio Love Sculpture and The Road to Mictlantecutli, which appeared in anthologies edited by Alfred Hitchcock, Herbert van Thal, and others.[7] He also wrote short stories and articles for men's magazines.[8]

Career

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Cardwell was a president of California's Monterey Peninsula College,[9] and a long-standing member of the Diogenes Club,[3] a Sherlock Holmes appreciation society.[10] His unproduced musical play "Mrs. Hudson? Mrs. Hudson!!", a Sherlockian pastiche, was published posthumously in 2000, with illustrations by Jean-Pierre Cagnat [fr].[11][12]

Cardwell was survived by his third wife, Julie.[1][13]

Selected bibliography

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Short stories

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As Adobe James:[7]

  • The Ohio Love Sculpture (1963)
  • I'll Love You – Always (1964)
  • The Revenge (1964)
  • Puppetmaster (1965)
  • The Road to Mictlantecutli (1965)
  • Tomorrow and ... Tomorrow (1967)
  • An Apparition at Noon (1968)
  • The Spelling Bee (1989)

According to one source Cardwell used another pseudonym, James McArdwell, to write The Green Umbilical Cord (1968).[14]

Play

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  • "Mrs. Hudson? ... Mrs. Hudson!!" (2000) (published posthumously as James Moss Cardwell) ISBN 978-1552462072

Influences

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Cardwell's editor, Michael Kean, has discussed similarities between Cardwell's 1967 story "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" and Michael Winner's 1974 film Death Wish. Cardwell's 1964 story "The Revenge" closely resembles a 1947 story, "Revenge" – attributed to an otherwise unknown writer, Samuel Blas[15] – which was twice adapted for television's Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in 1955 and 1985),[1] and was also used as a plot in a number of horror comics.[16][17] However, as Cardwell is not credited for these adaptations, it remains unclear whether these similarities are coincidental.

Notes

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  1. ^ Most sources support the 1926 birth year, although some library records state 1929.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Cardwell, James Moss (2000). Kean, Michael H. (ed.). Mrs. Hudson? ... Mrs. Hudson!! : a conceptual narrative treatment of an original musical. Shelburne, Ontario: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. ISBN 1552462072.
  2. ^ "United States Social Security Death Index". Family Search. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "James M. Cardwell". The Baker Street Journal. 39–40. Fordham University Press: 174. 1989.
  4. ^ "Florida Death Index, 1877-1998". Retrieved May 25, 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. (registration required)
  5. ^ Ashley, Mike; Contento, William G. (1995). The Supernatural Index: a listing of fantasy, supernatural, occult, weird, and horror anthologies. Greenwood Press. p. 317. ISBN 0313240302.
  6. ^ Pronzini, Bill; Malzberg, Barry N.; Greenberg, Martin H., eds. (2010). Masters of horror and the supernatural: the great tales. New York: Bristol Park Books. p. 384. ISBN 978-0884864738.
  7. ^ a b "Adobe James – Summary Bibliography". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  8. ^ "James, Adobe; pseudonym of James Moss Cardwell". The FictionMags Index. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  9. ^ Taylor, Mary S. (January 24, 2014). "Cardwell". CAGenWeb Monterey County Genealogy. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  10. ^ Nix, Kelly. "Sherlock Holmes Club endures for decades". The Carmel Pine Cone. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  11. ^ "Mrs Hudson? Mrs Hudson!". The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  12. ^ Blau, Peter E. (January 2001). "Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press" (PDF). Sherlocktron. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  13. ^ "Johnny Mains Pops In For a Chat". The Ginger Nuts of Horror. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  14. ^ "James McArdwell – Summary Bibliography". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  15. ^ Blas, Samuel (January 11, 1947). "Revenge". Collier's Weekly: 14, 64. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "Revenge". Scary For Kids. February 13, 2015. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  17. ^ Ho, Oliver (January 14, 2010). "Borderland Speakeasy: Echoes of Vengeance". Pop Matters. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.