Zorro (novel) la Vega and his mute brother Bernardo to create their eventual shared identity as el Zorro, advocate and protector of the people. Allende contributed an essay on the writing of the "Zorro" novel to "Tales of Zorro", the first-ever anthology of original Zorro short fiction edited by Richard Dean Starr and published by Chicago-based Moonstone Books. Zorro (novel) Zorro is a 2005 novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende. Its subject is the pulp hero Diego de la Vega, better known as El Zorro (The Fox), who was featured in an early 20th-century novel. The novel takes the form of a
Zorro the film "The Mark of Zorro" (1920), which Fairbanks produced, co-wrote and starred in as Diego/Zorro. The movie was a commercial success, and the 1924 reprint of McCulley's story by publisher Grosset & Dunlap used the same title, capitalizing on the movie's popularity. The novel has since been reprinted using both titles. In response to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than sixty more Zorro stories, beginning in 1922. The 1922 story was "The Further Adventures of Zorro" and was also serialized in "Argosy All-Story Weekly". Fairbanks picked up the movie rights for the sequel that year.