De Ford and Shipley only stayed in the socialist party and San Francisco for a short time. They moved out of the city in 1920 for Sausalito. They left the Socialist Party in 1922, thinking it had moved too far right. While never a member of the communist party, de Ford believed in revolution, not reformation. After leaving the party, their activism slowed. (It was also curtailed by Shipley’s heart attack that year.) de Ford worked for the insurance company until 1923, when she was forced out because of her radical ties. She had been doing journalism even as a claims adjuster, though, and she continued that, along with other odd jobs. Shipley was lecturing. They also found Haldemann and Julius’s Little Blue Books, and both wrote a number of volumes. In 1924, their extra time became focused on the Science League, founded by Shipley to combat the spread of anti-evolutionist sentiment and laws. They continued with that until 1932.
Shipley died in 1934. De Ford grieved in Hawaii for a time, visited her family in the East, and then returned to San Francisco. She continued to move from job to job and develop her writing. De Ford had been writing detective fiction for the pulps since the 1920s and was very interested in crime writing. She dabbled in true crime as well as writing about a number of leftist martyrs who had been wronged by the justice system. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, inspired by having typed up so much of Shipley’s science material, she drifted into science fiction, mentored by Anthony Boucher. By this point, she was living in one of the Provincial enclaves—the Ambassador Hotel—and writing full time.
Shipley died in 1934. De Ford grieved in Hawaii for a time, visited her family in the East, and then returned to San Francisco. She continued to move from job to job and develop her writing. De Ford had been writing detective fiction for the pulps since the 1920s and was very interested in crime writing. She dabbled in true crime as well as writing about a number of leftist martyrs who had been wronged by the justice system. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, inspired by having typed up so much of Shipley’s science material, she drifted into science fiction, mentored by Anthony Boucher. By this point, she was living in one of the Provincial enclaves—the Ambassador Hotel—and writing full time.
