George Sterling (1869 – 1926) was a San Francisco-based poet, playwright, and the "uncrowned king of Bohemia." He established an arts commune in Carmel-by-the-Sea frequented by Ambrose Bierce, Mary Austin, Clark Ashton Smith, Upton Sinclair and others. He is depicted twice in Jack London's novels: as Russ Brissenden in Martin Eden (1909) and as Mark Hall in The Valley of the Moon (1913).