Wikipedia:Today's featured list/July 13, 2015
The works of the British writer Sax Rohmer include songs, sketches, plays and stories. After attempting careers in the civil service, as well as the banking, journalism and gas industries, Rohmer began writing comic songs, monologues and sketches for music hall performers, including Little Tich and George Robey. Rohmer's first book was Pause!, a series of sketches conceived by Robey and written by Rohmer, which was published anonymously in 1910; his second book was the ghost-written biography of Little Tich, published with Tich's real name, Harry Relph. In 1913 The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu was published, a novel that introduced Fu Manchu, described by Rohmer as "the yellow peril incarnate in one man"; the book brought the author popularity and wealth. In total he wrote 15 Fu Manchu books and although he killed the character off more than once, public pressure demanded his return. Fu Manchu is the character with which Rohmer "remains most strongly identified", and was described by Rohmer's biographer Will Murray as one of the literary characters that "has achieved universal acceptance and popularity which will not be forgotten". From 1951 onwards Rohmer published five novels with Sumuru as the central protagonist; she was a female conterpart of Fu Manchu, and the novels were both popular and successful. (Full list...)