Talbot Mundy was born William Lancaster Gribbon on April 23, 1879, in Hammersmith, London. After college he moved to British India where he worked in administration and journalism. In 1909 he moved to New York City, where he sold his first story to Munsey's The Scrap Book in 1911. Mundy soon began selling stories to a variety of pulp magazines such as Argosy, Cavalier and Adventure. Drawing upon his experiences in India, he published his first novel, Rung Ho!, in 1914, soon followed by a series of adventures featuring such ongoing heroes as Jimgrim, Ramsden, Tros, Cottswold Ommony, Yasmini and Athelstan King. Mundy became a U.S. citizen in 1918, soon joined the Christian Science movement, and later embraced Theosophy, which influenced much of his writing. He died on August 5, 1940 at his home on Anna Maria Island, Florida, from diabetes.