Lester Dent
Lester Dent (1904-1959) was an American author of pulp fiction. He is best known for his contributions to the Doc Savage series (writing as Kenneth Robeson ). Dent went to college for business, intending to be a banker. While he was standing in line to apply, he discovered that telegraph operators made $20 more than bankers, so he decided to major in telegraphy. It was as he was working as a telegrapher for the Associated Press that he noticed how much writers made by writing for pulp magazines and began writing during slow hours. It wasn’t long before he was writing exclusively for Dell Publishing for $500 per month. Following Dell ceasing publication of their pulp magazines, he was contacted by Street and Smith Publications about writing a pulp magazine for an adventure hero – a hero that would end up becoming Doc Savage. Although the magazines were published under the house name of Kenneth Robeson, Dent was paid $500 (and later $750) per novel.
