Talk:F. Van Wyck Mason

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 04:18, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I am not sure where I read it first but I did not make it up. He certainly seems to set the model since he is a government agent, he generally works alone or with a partner from another government, he is very attractive to the women, and beautiful women usually are romantically involved with him while being part of the plot. Also, he is always cracking some large conspiracy by first getting in trouble in the thick of things and somehow pulling it out in the end by the skin of his teeth.

It would be hard to find a hard connection but it would be interesting to find out if Fleming read some of the Mason books.

As for your book, I hate to break it to you but the Grosset & Dunlap is a reprint edition. The first edition is the Doubleday Crime Club which is marked on the copyright page 'First Edition'. The story of "The Hongkong Airbase Murders" is my favorite and is the one that sparked my interest in the author in the first place. --Dave 16:16, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Can anyone amplify on the Hugh North character as an early James Bond prototype? I see in my copy of the "The Hongkong Airbase Murders" that Hugh North introduces himself to M. Lebov in an eerily James Bond manner:

'Beneath the taller man's close-clipped black mustache appeared a smile. "Sorry, my name's North; Hugh North."' (The Hongkong Airbase Murders, page 16, published by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1937 - I believe my copy is a first edition)

Random chance, or did Fleming read Mason and lift the introduction? The first Bond book wasn't until the 50's, so I think its clear that Mason got there first...

--S.R. 17:58, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Added references per request. Much of this comes from dust jacket entries but I do have some more references which I will add later when I have more time.--Dave 00:38, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Added link to SwordAndSorcery.org for my review of Captain Judas. Andy Beau 09:23, 14 Nov 2005

I have many pictures of Mason. These are mostly from dust jacket flaps on his books. Does anyone know if I could post one of those here? If I would need to get permission from the publisher or his family then does anyone know how to go about that?--Daveteds 17:03, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I am glad you have kept the article for now, I have been researching this author over a year now and plan to continue indefinitely. I do not think there is anyone else out there really interested as I am. I think that he was a major author with a large number of successful books and top 10 bestsellers for 1940 and 1949. I will work on a more conversational article but it will take some time. I am still working on reading all his books but that will also take another couple of years probably. Daveteds 17:38, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Hi, editor 12.31.248.99,

Can you throw more light on the false murder arrest, though. This really needs to be substantiated if we want to avoid legal problems.:-) Dieter Simon 22:57, 24 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Hi, this is Dave Edwards here, I got this from the dust jacket flap of the first edition of "The Branded Spy Murders". The full text is as follows: "FEW PEOPLE would be able to support themselves, to say nothing of a wife and two small sons, if they spent most of the day lying on a couch with their feet in a chair, but Van Wyck Mason finds that the best position for dictating his stories of Captain Hugh North. When he isn't dictating Mr. Mason, whose home is in Maryland's famous Green Spring Valley, may be found shooting ducks in the winter or playing polo in the summer. Mr. Mason claims the distinction of being one author who has actually been arrested for murder. He was returning from a party in a borrowed dinner coat during his Harvard days. The police were looking for a waiter who had committed a gruesome murder. They spied Mr. Mason in what they mistook for a waiter's outfit and took him to jail. When they discovered that every garment the culprit wore was marked with initials other than his own, they locked him up. And there he cooled his heels until friends answered his S. 0. S. the next morning."


 * Hi Dave,

Glad you have come back on my query. I had to blank the article because it was really like a dictionary article rather than an encyclopedia one. So, why don't you create it as a Wikipedia article. Start off: F. Van Wick Mason was..., etc. Take a look at "How to start a page" and away you go. It's good you can give details of the false arrest. Also take a look at "how to edit a page". It tells you among other things how to sign your Talk pages, four tildes (~) in a row, but you'd have to log on first. Happy editing! Dieter Simon 00:46, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * Sorry after all this I lost what I had written. I had meant to wish you well with your article. Dieter Simon

From Peer review

F. Van Wyck Mason was created as a dictionary-style article. I have since tried to change it into something more like an encyclopedia article, without much success. I think it needs someone who really knows something about this man. I am also unhappy about the item "he was mistakenly arrested for murder". I cannot find anything in Google or elsewhere to that effect. I think if we can't locate any reference to any court proceedings we should remove it for obvious reasons.

Furthermore the header "F. Van Wyck Mason" is a most unfortunate one, and it should really be changed, full-stops in titles are awkward. Can I ask for a consensus to either remove the just-mentioned item, or have it rewritten by an editor who knows something about the man, or as a last resort to remove the article? Dieter Simon 22:30, 23 Oct 2003 (UTC)
 * Periods (full stops) are American style. An American user would expect to type in the period.  RickK 22:24, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)


 * Have noted above about periods/full stops. Appreciated -Dieter Simon 22:39, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)


 * I think the best option is to blank the article. The information in it is probably good for the most part, and should remain available to future contributors.  I doubt we could get anyone qualified to do a rewrite anytime soon.  The only article that links to the one in question is November 11, the date of his birth.  The entry in that article was made by Zoe, who has since departed.  P.S: The article title seems appropriate, though, as it uses the same form of his name as Zoe used.  -Smack 00:54, 25 Oct 2003 (UTC)


 * Yes, Smack, that seems the best solution at this stage. So I have blanked it with explanation. Many thanks for your suggestion. Dieter Simon 23:10, 25 Oct 2003 (UTC)


 * I do not know what is customary for naming articles, the author himself published under the name F. Van Wyck Mason although some books show just Van Wyck Mason on the cover with a copyright to F. Van Wyck Mason. He also published under the names F. V. W. Mason, Ward Weaver, Geoffrey Coffin, and Frank W. Mason.  His first name was Francis.  Daveteds 17:45, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)


 * Hi Dave, I am glad you are making a good job of it. As for the name, Van Mason redirects to the page. If you think the other names are important as to the number of books written under each pen-name, why not put a redirect stub leading from each name to this one?. Take a look at Redirect --Dieter Simon 01:31, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Rewrote article
I just posted the rewrite that I promised previously. I added a lot of text here that I have references for. The section at the end about his writing is rather subjective. The whole thing is a little dry and is really an initial draft but it should be good for now in terms of conataining all the useful information.--Daveteds 21:31, 31 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I enjoy the North books & I enjoyed this article.

Harvard Legacy
I just finished reading Harpoon in Eden. The fictional family in this story has a legacy from the patriarch that provides for a Harvard education for all 1st sons named after him. The fictional name in this case is Micajah Paddock. Mason's first name is Francis, as is his grandfather, father, son, and grandson. Mason and his sons attended Harvard. This is an interesting angle to follow up on sometime.--Dave (talk) 02:21, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

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