David Wright O'Brien was an American fantasy and science fiction author who became a highly prolific contributor to pulp magazines during the early 1940s. Born in 1918, O'Brien was the nephew of Farnsworth Wright, the influential editor of Weird Tales. He began his professional writing career at the age of twenty-two, making his debut with the story "Truth Is a Plague!" in the February 1940 issue of Amazing Stories.
Following his debut, O'Brien experienced an extraordinarily productive period. Between January 1941 and August 1942, he published more than fifty-seven stories in popular pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. To manage this immense output, he wrote under various pseudonyms, including John York Cabot, Duncan Farnsworth, Clee Garson, and Richard Vardon. He also frequently collaborated with his close friend and office-mate, William P. McGivern, with whom he shared a workspace in Chicago.
O'Brien's writing career continued even after he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. Demonstrating a playful sense of humor, he appended the title "Corporal" to his established pen names for his wartime publications. His promising career was cut short in 1944 when he was killed at the age of twenty-six during a bombing raid over Berlin.
