Otis Adelbert Kline

Otis Adelbert Kline worked first in music and later as a writer and literary agent. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction dates his life to 1891–1946 and describes him as an American songwriter, author and agent who turned to popular fiction in the early 1920s. His first sale was the serial “The Thing of a Thousand Shapes,” which began in the first issue of Weird Tales and concluded in April 1923. The magazine’s contents pages identify Kline as its author across both installments.

Kline wrote across several popular genres, including adventure, fantasy and science fiction. His later planetary romances are often discussed alongside the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, though the Encyclopedia cautions that the familiar tale of a direct literary feud has lost credibility. The Weird Tales serial, by contrast, is firmly documented: it begins with an isolated New York setting and expands into a fantastic adventure. Kline also worked as a literary agent, a role that placed him on the professional side of the pulp market as well as among its contributors. His early byline belongs to a longer career in magazine fiction and publishing.