Julian Kilman (1878-1954)-The First Canadian Author

Pseudonym of Leroy Noble Kilman
Attorney, Government Worker, Author, Lecturer/Public Speaker, Lepidopterist, Angler
Born March 26, 1878, Drummondville, Ontario, Canada
Died April 3, 1954, at home, Gulfport, Florida

Julian Kilman was the pen name of Leroy Noble Kilman and the author of dozens of stories published in magazines from 1913 to 1934, plus nonfiction articles that appeared in newspapers and magazines even after he retired. Born in Drummondville, Ontario, Canada, on March 26, 1878, he was descended from United Empire Loyalists who fled the United States when it was still a young country. His parents were Alva Hamilton Kilman, a schoolteacher, and Ida M. (Noble) Kilman. As a boy, Kilman collected insects with his father. He would return to that hobby after retiring to Florida in the 1940s.

Kilman came to the United States in 1898 and was naturalized in 1904. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1905 with a law degree and went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant district attorney. In 1914, he transferred to the Department of Labor, eventually to become district director of naturalization for western New York State and part of Pennsylvania. He was based in Buffalo, New York. Kilman retired either in 1933 or 1935. In 1910, he married Cecile Gauntlett, a teacher of Latin, in her native state of Michigan. They enjoyed many long years together. Their son was named Julian N. Kilman.

Kilman's earliest story in The FictionMags Index is "Dan Alders' Revenge," published in Short Stories in September 1913. His writing career picked up again in April 1920, when his story "The Peculiar Affair at the Axminster" appeared in The Black Mask. He had half a dozen stories in that title, all under his pen name Julian Kilman. Still more stories by Kilman appeared in The American Boy, The Atlantic Monthly, Brief Stories, Complete Story Magazine, The Double Dealer (published in New Orleans), Echo, People's Story Magazine, The Smart Set, 10 Story Book, and other titles. His last listed in The FictionMags Index is "The Trap" in Top-Notch, March 1934.

Julian Kilman had five stories in all in Weird Tales, all in its first year in print. In fact, Kilman was one of only two authors with stories in each of the first four issues of the magazine. The other was New Englander Hamilton Craigie. He also had a story in Detective Tales, "For Empire," in October 1923. Kilman admired O. Henry, Rudyard Kipling, Anton Chekhov, and Joseph Conrad. In the 1920s, at around the time Weird Tales made its debut, he was a member of a writer's group in Buffalo called "Scriptories."

Kilman seems to have retired from writing short stories at around the same time that he retired from his regular job. As he explained to a Florida newspaper in 1953:

"The average short story writer has about 10 years of production and then finds he's written himself out. With times changing, new writers come up fast. They have new experiences and have plenty to write about. The older writer must then turn to longer stories or novels or quit. I chose the last."

Even after retiring to Florida, he continued writing nonfiction articles for sports magazines, all or mostly about fishing. He also amassed a collection of butterflies and traded specimens with collectors from all over the world.

Leroy N. Kilman died on April 3, 1954, at home, in Gulfport, Florida. He was survived by his wife and children. He was seventy-six years old.

Julian Kilman's Stories in Weird Tales and Detective Tales

Weird Tales

• "The Mystery of Black Jean" (Mar. 1923)
• "The Affair of the Man in Scarlet" (Apr. 1923)
• "The Golden Caverns" (May 1923)
• "The Well" (June 1923)
• "The Black Patch" (Sept. 1923)

Detective Tales

• "For Empire" (Oct. 1923)

Further Reading

• "Demand for Mystery Plots Never Lags, Asserts Kilman" in the Buffalo News, April 5, 1923, page 38, coincident with the publication of the second issue of Weird Tales, in which he had a story.
• "Boyhood Hobby Provides Pleasure for Ex-Lawyer" by George Bartlett in the St. Petersburg Times, June 21, 1953, page 4F.
• Julian Kilman is also in a blog called Lesser-Known Writers, conducted by Douglas A. Anderson. The date was March 30, 2012. For those who aren't familiar with it, Mr. Anderson began writing his blog in June 2011, about seven weeks after I began mine. His is similar in format to mine, but whereas I have focused on writers and artists who have contributed to Weird Tales, Douglas Anderson has looked at a wider range of authors.

Julian Kilman's Story:

"The Mystery of Black Jean" is a funny and ironic mystery story that reads like a folklore account. It is told in the first person by a witness to the events of the story. The witness was a boy when it all happened. He's now a man, and he addresses his story to unnamed listeners--and to us, the readers. "The Mystery of Black Jean" is set in Canada. The man Jean of the title is a big French Canadian with two pet bears that he sometimes wrestles, sometimes makes work for him, and sometimes treats with great cruelty. Black Jean also has two women in his life, and thereby hangs a tale. I won't go into the specifics of Kilman's story. You should read it yourself. It won't take long. I have to say, though, that his is the most natural of the four I have covered so far and perhaps the most enjoyable, mostly for its very human angle and its human interest.

Leroy Kilman, aka Julian Kilman, with his wife Cecile and part of his butterfly collection, from "Boyhood Hobby Provides Pleasure for Ex-Lawyer" by George Bartlett in the St. Petersburg Times, June 21, 1953, page 4F. Photo by Johnnie Evans.

Original text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley