Early in his life, Henry Harland wrote novels (said to be of lesser quality, though we haven't seen them, and find ourselves skeptical of the assertion) under the name "Sidney Luska." Then his health took a turn for the worse, and his physician gave him two years to live. Seeing his days numbered, he started making a real effort to do his best work -- and managed to live fourteen more years as though each was his last, writing most of the novels and collections he's remembered for. He died in 1905 in San Remo, Italy, but lies buried in sight his family's home in Norwich, Connecticut.