About The Author
Frederick Schiller Faust (1892-1944) was a celebrated western author and bestselling writer in the decades following the legendary writers Owen Wister and Zane Grey.

His books were thoughtful and literary, and he used several pen names including Max Brand, George Owen Baxter, Evan Evans, George Evans, David Manning, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis, and Frederick Frost.

Faust was born in Seattle but his parents died when he was a child and he was raised in California. He worked as a cowhand on a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley and studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Canadian Army in 1915 at the outbreak of World War I but his service was short lived and he moved to New York City.

Faust married Dorothy Schillig in 1917, and had three children. He settled down to write mainly for magazines. In 1921, he suffered a severe heart attack, and for the rest of his life suffered from chronic heart disease. Many of his stories inspired films. He created the Western character Destry, featured in several cinematic versions of Destry Rides Again, and his character Dr. Kildare was adapted to motion pictures, radio, television, and comic books. He worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter and made a fortune from MGM's Dr. Kildare adaptations.

During World War II, he was a front line war correspondent, moving with American soldiers in Italy in 1944, Faust was hit by shrapnel and was personally commended for bravery by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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