The Magic Story

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1900 Edition.

Frederick van Rensselaer Dey (February 10, 1861 – April 25, 1922) was an American dime novelist and pulp fiction writer.

He was born on February 10, 1861 in Watkins Glen, New York to David Peter Dey and Emma Brewster Sayre. He attended the Havana Academy, and later graduated from the Columbia Law School. He practiced law and was a junior partner of William J. Gaynor.

Dey took up writing while recovering from an illness. His first full-length story was written for Beadle and Adams in 1881.

Dey married Annie Shepard Wheeler, of Providence, Rhode Island on June 4, 1885 and they had two children. After a divorce he married Haryot Holt (c1870-1950) on April 1, 1898.

In 1891, Street & Smith hired him to continue the series begun by John R. Coryell, on the adventures of Nick Carter. Most of his Nick Carter stories appeared under the pseudonyms "A Celebrated Author" and "The Author of 'Nick Carter'". He wrote over a thousand Nick Carter novelettes, comprising over forty million words, all written longhand.

Dey also worked as a newspaper reporter.

Writing as "Varick Vanardy", he created the "The Night Wind", who appeared in stories from 1913 to the early 1920s. Collected into 4 books, these have been recently reprinted by Wildside Press: Alias, The Night Wind (1913), Return of the Night Wind, The Night Wind's Promise, The Lady of the Night Wind (1918).

"The Magic Story," written in 1899, was extremely popular and are said to have passed through twenty editions.