John Russell Fearn (5 June 1908 — 18 September 1960) was a British writer, one of the first to appear in American pulp science fiction magazines.

A prolific author, he published his novels also as Vargo Statten and with various pseudonyms including Thornton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, John Cotton, Dennis Clive, Ephriam Winiki, Astron Del Martia.

He wrote series such as Adam Quirke, Clayton Drew, Golden Amazon, and Herbert.

], with Arthur C. Clarke commenting in 1939 that "we must admire the magnificent, if undisciplined, fertility of his mind".

In 1938, he told Amazing Stories that he "likes broiling sunlight and heated rooms [and] smokes incessantly while he writes".