Darrell Schweitzer
Encyclopedia
Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American
writer
, editor
, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction
. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy
and horror
, although he does also work in science fiction
and fantasy
. Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
, New Jersey
, son of Francis Edward and Mary Alice Schweitzer. He attended Villanova University
from 1970-1976, from which he received a B.S. in geography (1974) and an M.A. in English (1976). He started his literary career as a reviewer and columnist. He worked as an editorial assistant for Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine
from 1977-1982 and Amazing Stories
from 1982-1986, was co-editor with George H. Scithers
and John Gregory Betancourt
of Weird Tales
from 1987-1990 and sole editor of the same magazine from 1991-1994 and its successor, Worlds of Fantasy & Horror, from 1994-1996. From 1998-2007 he was again co-editor of Weird Tales, first with Scithers and then with Scithers and Betancourt. He has also been a part-time literary agent for the Owlswick Agency in Philadelphia. and a World Fantasy Award judge. He is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America
and Horror Writers of America
. He lives and works in the Philadelphia area.
special award in the professional category for Weird Tales. His poem Remembering the Future won the 2006 Asimov's Science Fictions Readers' Award for best poem.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy
Dark fantasy
Dark fantasy is a term used to describe a fantasy story with a pronounced horror element.-Overview:A strict definition for dark fantasy is difficult to pin down. Gertrude Barrows Bennett has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". Both Charles L...
and horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, although he does also work in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
. Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Life and career
Schweitzer was born in WoodburyWoodbury, New Jersey
Woodbury is a city in Gloucester County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, 10,307 residents were counted. Woodbury is the county seat of Gloucester County....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, son of Francis Edward and Mary Alice Schweitzer. He attended Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
from 1970-1976, from which he received a B.S. in geography (1974) and an M.A. in English (1976). He started his literary career as a reviewer and columnist. He worked as an editorial assistant for Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine
Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
from 1977-1982 and Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
from 1982-1986, was co-editor with George H. Scithers
George H. Scithers
George H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of...
and John Gregory Betancourt
John Gregory Betancourt
John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P...
of Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
from 1987-1990 and sole editor of the same magazine from 1991-1994 and its successor, Worlds of Fantasy & Horror, from 1994-1996. From 1998-2007 he was again co-editor of Weird Tales, first with Scithers and then with Scithers and Betancourt. He has also been a part-time literary agent for the Owlswick Agency in Philadelphia. and a World Fantasy Award judge. He is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
and Horror Writers of America
Horror Writers Association
The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide non-profit organization of professional writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of Horror and Dark Fantasy writers. It was formed in the 1980s with the help of many of the field's greats, including Joe Lansdale, Robert...
. He lives and works in the Philadelphia area.
Works
Schweitzer's "best and best-known work" is a sequence of epic fantasies set in a far future Earth that culminates in his novel The Shattered Goddess (1982). Also highly-regarded are his tales of the child-sorcerer Sekenre, most notably the first, "To Become a Sorcerer" (1991), which was nominated for the World Fantasy Award and later expanded into the novel The Mask of the Sorcerer (1995). Other works include his first novel, The White Isle, written in 1976 but unpublished until 1989, and the stories of the lapsed knight Julian, most of them collected in We Are All Legends (1981).Awards
Together with his editorial colleagues Schweitzer won the 1992 World Fantasy AwardWorld Fantasy Special Award: Professional
This World Fantasy Award is presented to individuals for their outstanding professional work in the fantasy field, and voted by a panel of judges at the World Fantasy Convention....
special award in the professional category for Weird Tales. His poem Remembering the Future won the 2006 Asimov's Science Fictions Readers' Award for best poem.
Novels
- The Shattered Goddess (1982)
- The White Isle (1989)
- The Mask of the Sorcerer (1995)
Short Story Collections
- We Are All Legends (1981)
- Tom O'Bedlam's Night Out, and Other Strange Excursions (1985)
- The Meaning of Life and Other Awesome Cosmic Revelations (1988)
- Transients and Other Disquieting Stories (1993)
- Refugees from an Imaginary Country (1999)
- Necromancies and Netherworlds (1999) with Jason Van HollanderJason Van HollanderJason Van Hollander is an award-winning illustrator, book designer and occasional author. His stories and collaborations with Darrell Schweitzer earned a World Fantasy Award nomination...
- Nightscapes: Tales of the Ominous and Magical (2000)
- The Great World and the Small: More Tales of the Ominous and Magical (2001) with Jason Van HollanderJason Van HollanderJason Van Hollander is an award-winning illustrator, book designer and occasional author. His stories and collaborations with Darrell Schweitzer earned a World Fantasy Award nomination...
- Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer (2004)
- Living with the Dead (2008)
Poetry Collections
- Non Compost Mentis: An Affrontery of Limericks and Other Eldritch Metrical Terrors (1995)
- Poetica Dementia: Being a Further Accumulation of Metrical Offenses (1997)
- "Stop Me Before I Do It Again!" (1999)
- They Never Found His Head: Poems of Sentiment & Reflection (2001)
- The Innsmouth Tabernacle Choir Hymnal (2004)
- Groping Towards the Light (2005)
- Ghosts of Past and Future (2008)
Nonfiction
- Lovecraft in the Cinema (1975)
- The Dream Quest of H. P. Lovecraft (1978)
- Conan's World and Robert E. Howard (1979)
- On Writing Science Fiction: The Editors Strike Back! (1981) with John M. FordJohn M. FordJohn Milo "Mike" Ford was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet.Ford was regarded as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions...
and George H. ScithersGeorge H. ScithersGeorge H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of... - Pathways to Elfland: The Writings of Lord Dunsany (1989)
- Lord Dunsany: A Bibliography (1993) with S. T. JoshiS. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...
- Windows of the Imagination: Essays on Fantastic Literature (1998) [includes essays on H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, Richard MiddletonRichard MiddletonRichard Middleton may refer to:*Richard Middleton , English theologian, philosopher and Lord Chancellor*Richard Barham Middleton , British poet and ghost story writer...
, Lord Dunsany, DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and many reviews.
Anthologies
- Tales from the Spaceport Bar (1986) with George H. ScithersGeorge H. ScithersGeorge H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of...
- Another Round at the Spaceport Bar (1989) with George H. ScithersGeorge H. ScithersGeorge H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of...
- Secret History of Vampires (2007)
- Full Moon City (2010) with Martin H. GreenbergMartin H. GreenbergMartin Harry Greenberg was an American speculative fiction anthologist and writer.-Biography:Dr. Martin H. Greenberg was born March 1, 1941, to Max and Mae Greenberg in South Miami Beach, Florida...
- Cthulhu's ReignCthulhu's ReignCthulhu's Reign is an anthology of original horror short stories edited by Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in April 2010....
(2010)
Nonfiction
- Essays Lovecraftian (1976)
- SF Voices (1976)
- Science Fiction Voices #1: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (1979)
- The Ghosts of the Heaviside Layer and Other Fantasms, by Lord Dunsany (1980)
- Science Fiction Voices #5: Interviews with American Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age (1981)
- Discovering Modern Horror Fiction I (1985)
- Discovering Stephen King (1985)
- Exploring Fantasy Worlds: Essays on Fantastic Literature (1985)
- Discovering H. P. Lovecraft (1987) (revised and expanded edition of Essays Lovecraftian)
- Discovering Modern Horror Fiction II (1988)
- Discovering Classic Horror Fiction I (1992)
- Speaking of Horror: Interviews with Writers of the Supernatural (1994)
- Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction (1997)
- Speaking of the Fantastic (2002)
- The Thomas Ligotti ReaderThe Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and ExplorationsThe Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations is a collection of essays on horror writer Thomas Ligotti and his works, edited by Darrell Schweitzer...
(2003) - Speaking of the Fantastic II (2004)
- The Neil Gaiman Reader (2006)
- The Robert E. Howard ReaderThe Robert E. Howard ReaderThe Robert E. Howard Reader is a collection of essays on fantasy writer Robert E. Howard and his works, edited by Darrell Schweitzer. Originally scheduled for publication in 2007, it was ultimately published in September 2010 by Wildside Press....
(2010)
External links
- Dreamer on the wildside An Interview with Darrell Schweizter from Cold Print magazine 2004.
- Spotlight on Darrell Schweitzer An Interview with Darrell Schweizter from Portal Press Books 2007.