Roger Zelazny
 Roger
Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American writer of fantasy and
science fiction short stories and novels. He won the Nebula award three times
and the Hugo award six times, including twice for novels: the novella ...And
Call Me Conrad (1966), subsequently published as the novel This Immortal, and
the novel Lord of Light (1968).
He received his M.A. in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama from Columbia
University in 1962. Zelazny briefly enlisted with the Ohio National Guard and
then worked for the Social Security Administration in Cleveland, Ohio, and
Baltimore, Maryland. Zelazny's first published story was 'Passion Play' which
appeared in 1962. Before becoming a full-time writer in 1969, Zelazny
concentrated on short stories and novellas. At the age of 38, he moved to Santa
Fe, where he lived until his death.
Zelazny had a rare gift for conceiving and portraying worlds with plausible
magic systems, powers, and supernatural beings. His captivating descriptions of
the nuts and bolts of magical workings in his imagined worlds set his fantasy
writing apart from otherwise similar authors. His science fiction was highly
influenced by mythology, poetry, including the French, British, and American
classics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and by
wisecracking detective fiction. His novels and short stories often involved
characters from myth, depicted in the modern world.
Roger
Zelazny was considered one of the leading lights of the "New Wave" movement in
science fiction, which changed the face of the genre in the 1960s. He
incorporated elements from literary novels of the mainstream into his fiction,
and experimented with allusion, lyricism, and mythic imagery.
A frequent theme is gods or people who become gods. Another recurrent theme is
the "absent father" (or father-figure). This occurs most notably in the Amber
novels: in the first Amber series, Corwin searches for his absent, god-like
father Oberon; in the second series, it is Corwin himself who is the absent
father. The theme also recurs in Roadmarks and Doorways in the Sand (in the
latter, the main character's parents are dead but his uncle fills the role of
the "absent father").
Roger Zelazny was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a
loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose
works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies.
Roger
Zelazny died in 1995 of complications due to cancer.
Pseudonyms: Harrison Denmark
Selected Bibliography
Complete
Bibliography
Series
- Amber
- Roger
Zelazny’s Visual Guide to Castle Amber (1988) with Neil
Randall and
Todd Cameron Hamilton
- The Great
Book of Amber: The Amber Chronicles 1-10 (1999)
- Amber
Collector’s Series II (2004)
- Amber
Collector’s Series III (2004)
- Amber
Collector’s Series IV (2004)
- Merlin
- Trumps of
Doom (1985)
- Blood of
Amber (1986)
- Sign of
Chaos (1987)
- Knight of
Shadows (1989)
- Prince of
Chaos (1991)
- The Chronicles of
Amber Pentalogy
- Nine
Princes in Amber (1970)
- The Guns
of Avalon (1972)
- Sign of
the Unicorn (1975)
- Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
- Sign
of the Unicorn (Part 1 of 3) (1975)
- Sign
of the Unicorn (Part 3 of 3) (1975)
- Sign
of the Unicorn (Part 2 of 3) (1975)
- The Hand
of Oberon (1976)
- Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
- The
Hand of Oberon (Part 1 of 3) (1976)
- The
Hand of Oberon (Part 2 of 3) (1976)
- The
Hand of Oberon (Part 3 of 3) (1976)
- The
Courts of Chaos (1978)
- Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
- The
Courts of Chaos (Part 2 of 3) (1977)
- The
Courts of Chaos (Part 1 of 3) (1977)
- The
Courts of Chaos (Part 3 of 3) (1978)
- The
Chronicles of Amber Volume 1 (1979)
- The
Chronicles of Amber Volume 2 (1979)
- Bring Me the Head
of Prince Charming
- Bring Me
the Head of Prince Charming (1991) with
Robert
Sheckley
- If at Faust
You Don't Succeed (1993) with Robert
Sheckley
- A Farce to
be Reckoned With (1995) with Robert
Sheckley
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Image from zelazny.corrupt.net
This article uses some information from biblio.com, kirjasto.sci.fi, and wikipedia.org
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