Shadow of the Past

Born in 1882 to a family of recent immigrants to America, Alfred Plowman dreamed of becoming a writer. Between 1907 and 1913 he wrote at least 20 short stories that were published in pulp fiction magazines. They appear together here for the first time, along with correspondence, from editors and others, relating to the work.

Al Plowman's stories provide a fascinating look into turn of the century St. Louis, Missouri, where he grew up. With only an eighth grade education Al entered the working world to help support his family while simultaneously writing stories and submitting them to publishers in New York. These pulp fiction stories are tales of the moral questions of the time, filled with characters placed in troubling circumstances that require them to make difficult, often painful, decisions.

These tales provide a glimpse into the past, into the world of working class people aspiring to better lives at the turn of the twentieth century in a rapidly growing American city.