Books: Free to Write

SOME LIKE THEM SHORT—William March—Little, Brown ($2.50).

Twenty years ago a 25 -year-old Alabama War veteran named William Ed ward March Campbell went to work as a stenographer at $100 a month for the Waterman Steamship Corp. Shrewd, well-liked, he rose rapidly to traffic manager, then to vice president. But he was not happy in his job, and meanwhile he had been making a reputation in little magazines as a talented short-story writer. This fact, however, he kept a close secret from his business associates. His stories were published under the pseudonym of William March. His literary output and reputation, though not...