Hal Braham

Another pseudonym he used was "Merrill Trask", when he published his western short-stories in "True" and "Look" Magazines.

As Mel Colton, Braham wrote for Black Mask magazine.

Titles from this series include: The Big Fix (1952), Never Kill a Cop (1953), Double Take (1953) and Point of No Escape (1955).

[2] Braham was also a member of the Fictioneers, a group of writers based in Los Angeles who specialized in mystery and western novels.

As a member of this group, he was a dedicatee of science fiction writer Richard Matheson's Journal of the Gun Years (1991), along with fellow Fictioneer writers such as William Campbell Gault, William R. Cox, Henry Kuttner, Les Savage Jr., Joe Brennan, Malden Grange Bishop, Chick Coombs, Dean Owens, Bill Fay, Willard Temple, Frank Bonham, Todhunter Ballard and Wilbur S.