Robert Louis Stevenson The Samoans insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night and on bearing him on their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea on land donated by British Acting Vice Consul Thomas Trood. Stevenson had always wanted his Requiem inscribed on his tomb: Stevenson was loved by the Samoans, and his tombstone epigraph was translated to a Samoan song of grief. Half of Stevenson's original manuscripts are lost, including those of "Treasure Island", "The Black Arrow," and "The Master of Ballantrae". His heirs sold his papers during World War
John Stevenson (writer) surprised Maurice Girodias (the founder of Olympia Press), who described it as "almost too brutal". The book was published under the pseudonym Marcus van Heller, a pen name which Stevenson continued to use for the subsequent novels, making it one of the most famous brand names published at Olympia Press. The success of the first novel was followed by other books, written in the years 1955–1961, making Stevenson the most prolific writer for the "Traveller's Companion" series of this publisher. The second novel, "The Loins of Amun" (1955), was set in Ancient Egypt, marking the beginning of a specialisation in