Charles Alden Seltzer (August 15, 1875 – February 9, 1942) was an American writer. He was a prolific author of western novels, had writing credits for more than a dozen film titles, and authored numerous stories published in magazines, most prominently in Argosy.
Life
Seltzer was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the son of Lucien B. Seltzer and Oceania Hart of Columbus, Ohio. Before becoming a successful writer, he was variously a newsboy, telegraph messenger, painter, carpenter and manager of the circulation of a newspaper, building inspector, editor of a small newspaper, and an appraiser.
He married Ella Seltzer, and they had three sons and two daughters. His son, Louis B. Seltzer, later editor of the Cleveland Press, recalled that the family was quite poor when his father was struggling to break into the writing profession (he wrote two hundred stories before receiving an acceptance). During this time, Seltzer's wife brought him wrapping paper from the butcher to write on.
In addition to Argosy, Seltzer's work also appeared in Adventure,
Short Stories, Blue Book,
The Outing Magazine, Western Story Magazine and
the US edition of Pearson's Magazine.
Seltzer wrote his westerns from the experience of five years living in New Mexico. Towards the end of his life, he was also elected mayor of North Olmsted, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, from 1930 to 1935.
