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About the author
Sax Rohmer was a British writer of songs skits, plays and novels. Rohmer was born in Birmingham to Irish immigrants, and the family relocated to London in 1886, where he attended school. His official schooling was completed in 1901, following the death of his alcoholic mother. After pursuing jobs in the civil service, finance, journalism, and gas, Rohmer began writing comedy songs, monologues, and sketches for music hall singers such as Little Tich and George Robey. Rohmer's first book was Pause! a collection of drawings created by Robey and written by Rohmer, which was published anonymously in 1910; his second book was the ghost-written biography of Little Tich, which was published under Tich's real name, Harry Relph. Fu Manchu is the character with whom Rohmer "remains most strongly identified," and his biographer Will Murray describes him as one of the literary characters who "has achieved universal acceptance and popularity which will not be forgotten," with Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and Dracula. Rohmer produced five books beginning in 1951 with Sumuru as the principal antagonist; she was a female counterpart to Fu Manchu, and her writings were very popular and lucrative.
