Verral, Charles S.

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Charles Spain Verral (November 7, 1904 – April 1, 1990) was a writer and illustrator born in Ontario, Canada. He was born in Highfield, Ontario, the son of George William and Kate Elizabeth (Peacocke) Verral, and graduated from Upper Canada College in 1923. He then attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto from 1923-1926.

He moved to New York in 1927 to edit and write for pulp magazines during the 1930s and early 1940s. His finest pieces for the pulps were the novel-length Bill Barnes stories in the Bill Barnes Air Adventures magazine (1934-1937); this series was continued as short stories in Doc Savage (1939-1943). In these exciting adventures of aviator Barnes and his friends, Verral focused on fast, modern airplanes and the latest developments of aviation technology.

Verral totally revamped Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer; ordered by Street and Smith to write as if the first six issues never happened, Verral did away with the futuristic technology, gave the characters more realistic dialogue, and turned Barnes' sidekick, "Sandy" Sanders, into a realistic character. He wrote under the house pseudonym George L. Eaton for the Bill Barnes series. Verral wrote some 40 or so of the Bill Barnes stories. In 1937, Verral quit the magazine over a dispute over the novel The Moon God, which contained elements of science fiction. He married Jean Willis Mithoefer on March 19, 1932.

Books (1)

Cover of The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly

The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly

Verral, Charles S. (author)
Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. (in Air Adventures magazine) • December 1939
Keywords: 1930s aviation fiction, young adult coming of age, disability and courage, vintage aircraft stories, overcoming adversity, small town America 1930s, teen pilot adventure, bullying and triumph, golden age of flight, father son reconciliation

Dan Sutherland dreams of flying, but his crippled leg and his father's mysterious opposition keep him grounded. While his wealthy rival Jerry Blackwell flaunts a gleaming new aircraft and an amateur pilot's license, Dan can only practice in secret aboard the Night Hawk—a crude mock airplane built from scrap in his family's barn loft. When Jerry's cruelty escalates and a dangerous flight goes terribly wrong, Dan must prove that real courage isn't measured by what you can do on the ground. Set in small-town America during aviation's golden age, this is a timeless story of determination, self-discovery, and the power of dreams to lift us above our limitations.