  frederick schiller faust (may 29, 1892 â may 12, 1944) was an american author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary westerns under the pen name max brand. his other pseudonyms include george owen baxter, evan evans, george evans, david manning, john frederick, peter morland, george challis, and frederick frost. faust was born in seattle to gilbert leander faust and louisa elizabeth (uriel) faust, both of whom died when faust was still a boy. he grew up in central california, and later worked as a cowhand on one of the many ranches of the san joaquin valley. faust attended the university of california, berkeley, where he began to write for student publications, poetry magazines, and newspapers. failing to graduate, faust joined the canadian army in 1915, but deserted the next year and moved to new york city. during the 1910s, faust sold stories to the pulp magazines of frank munsey, including all-story weekly and argosy magazine. when the united states entered world war i in 1917, faust tried to enlist but was rejected. he married dorothy schillig in 1917, and the couple had three children. in the 1920s, faust wrote extensively for pulp magazines, especially street & smithâs western story magazine, a weekly for which he would write over a million words a year under various pen names, often seeing two serials and a short novel published in a single issue. in 1921, he suffered a severe heart attack, and for the rest of his life suffered from chronic heart disease. his love for mythology was a constant source of inspiration for his fiction, and it has been speculated that these classical influences accounted in some part for his success as a popular writer. many of his stories would later inspire films. he created the western character destry, featured in several cinematic versions of destry rides again, and his character [[dr. kildare]
1892_births 1944_deaths 20th-century_American_novelists American_Western_(genre)_novelists American_short_story_writers Pulp_fiction_writers Writers_from_Seattle,_Washington