Grandfather Lost

Violent death mystery lasts for one hundred years

In 1924, Homer Eon Flint, a thirty six year old multi-published writer and the married father of three young children was found dead at the bottom of a canyon, pinned beneath an allegedly stolen taxi with a gun beside him.  His death was sensationalized by the media.  Some sources declared he'd participated in a bank robbery. Others suggested he committed suicide because of his interest in the occult. A gangster who died in prison a few years later testified that Flint had hijacked his car at gunpoint and driven away, presumably to die in an accident later.

 And, finally, there's the belief held by the family that Homer Eon Flint was simply a victim—in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Homer Eon Flint is considered one of the early twentieth century American pioneers in science fiction.  His work such as The Devolutionist and The Emancipatrix have remained as pillars of the speculative fiction genre.  The Blind Spot, co-written with fellow pioneer Austin Hall, has been reprinted nearly a dozen times.  Aside from those successes, Flint was a well-known writer of pulp fiction—some of his stories garnering payments of hundreds of dollars in the booming post World War I economy.

Fellow writer Ralph Parker Anderson, when asked if Flint had died a criminal replied, "I do not accept the view that he was a robber. If he had committed a crime, it would have been a superbly clever one, not the ordinary thievery."

Modern writers and scholars tend to agree. This writer who envisaged space travel and genetic testing back when the automobile and movies were new, would not have committed a simple carjacking. There must be more to the story—one Homer didn't live to tell.

His granddaughter and fellow writer Vella Munn became obsessed with learning everything she could about the man who was taken from his family when her mother was only six. Not only did she have physical custody of the magazines that carried his published work and stacks of unpublished manuscripts typed on yellowed paper, she'd been entrusted with the precious letters between Homer and his beloved wife Mabel when financial circumstances separated them for the last year of his life. She also collected the newspaper articles that covered the police investigation conducted after Homer's violent death and placed them verbatim in the biography.

The full story of Homer's end will never be known, but Grandfather Lost brings him to life.