<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Roger Zelazny (May 13, 1937 -- June 14, 1995) American writer. Western Reserve University, B.A. in English, 1959; Columbia University, M.A., 1962. Zelazny is closely identified with the US branch of science fiction’s “New Wave” in the 1960s. His writing shift away from the old by using a mythological framework. Zelazny’s ultimate influence may lie in establishment of the plausible magical world (often based in myth) populated with believable, if super-human, characters as a viable context for superior storytelling as seen in the currently popular works of George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman.

The prolific Zelazny published more than 150 stories, including such standouts as "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (1963), "Home is the Hangman" (1975, Nebula winner), "Unicorn Variation" (1982, Hugo winner), “24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai” (1985, Hugo winner), and "Permafrost" (1986). His first novel This Immortal (1966) was expanded from novella "...And Call Me Conrad" (1965) and won a Hugo. Novel The Dream Master (1966) was expanded from novella "He Who Shapes" which, along with novelette “The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth” (1966), both won Nebulas. In The Dream Master a psychiatrist enters the mindspace of patients. Doors, set on a fantastical Venus, combines love and a leviathan. This Immortal portrays a post-apocalyptic Earth that functions as little more than a tourist site for alien visitors. Its protagonist, Conrad Nomikos, is the archetype of the Zelaznian hero: the self-deprecatory, immortal, wise and wisecracking Trickster/hero. Zelazny crossed SF with fantasy in Lord of Light (1967; Hugo for best novel, 1968) creating a scientifically sound world in which advanced technology provides true reincarnation and transforms humans into approximations of Hindu gods and demons. Creatures of Light and Darkness (1969) was based on ancient Egyptian mythology, Isle of the Dead (1969, Prix Apollo winner) on a painting by Arnold Böcklin.

Zelazny is now best known for his ten-book (two five-book sets) series The Chronicles of Amber that began with Nine Princes in Amber in 1970. In Amber, he combined SF, fantasy, Raymond Chandleresque noir, and the betrayals of Jacobean drama, pitting narrator Corwin against his royal siblings seeking the throne of Amber, the “immortal city from which every other city has taken its shape."

Among Zelazny's other works are Jack of Shadows (1971), set on a world eternally half dark and half light with the dark side ruled by magic; post-apocalyptic quest Damnation Alley (1967 novella; novel, 1969, made into a bad film, 1977); Today We Choose Faces (1973); Isle of the Dead sequel To Die in Italbar (1973); Doorways in the Sand (1976); Bridge of Ashes (1976); the Wizard World duology of Changeling (1980) and Madwand (1981); Roadmarks (1979); Dilvish fantasies The Bells of Shoredan (1979), The Changing Land (1981) and Dilvish the Damned (1982); Eye of Cat (1982), an SF thriller drawing upon Navajo religion and folklore; A Dark Traveling (1987); Way Up High (1992); and the underrated A Night in the Lonesome October (1993, illustrated by Gahan Wilson): a whimsical “Victorian light supernatural fantasy featuring a bevy of characters (including Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, and Larry Talbot) some of whom want to “open” the way for Lovecraftian Elder Gods to return. Narrated by Snuff, Jack the Ripper’s canine companion.

Amber Series

First Chronicles:

• Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
• The Guns of Avalon (1972)
• Sign of the Unicorn (1975)
• The Hand of Oberon (1976)
• The Courts of Chaos (1978)

Second Chronicles:

• Trumps of Doom (1985)
• Blood of Amber (1986)
• Sign of Chaos (1987)
• Knight of Shadows (1989)
• Prince of Chaos (1991)

Novels

• This Immortal (1966)
• The Dream Master (1966)
• Lord of Light (1967)
• Creatures of Light and Darkness (1969)
• Isle of the Dead (1969)
• Jack of Shadows (1971)
• Damnation Alley (1967, 1969)
• Today We Choose Faces (1973)
• To Die in Italbar (1973)
• Doorways in the Sand (1976)
• Bridge of Ashes (1976)
• Changeling (1980)
• Madwand (1981)
• Roadmarks (1979)
• The Changing Land (1981)
• Eye of Cat (1982)
• A Dark Traveling (1987)
• Way Up High (1992)
• A Night in the Lonesome October (1993)

Story Collections

• Four for Tomorrow (1967)
• The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1971)
• My Name Is Legion (1976)
• The Illustrated Roger Zelazny (1978)
• Frost and Fire (1989)
• The Last Defender of Camelot (1980)
• A Rhapsody in Amber (1981)
• Unicorn Variations (1983)
• Gone to Earth (1991)
• And the Darkness is Harsh (1994)
• The Last Defender of Camelot (2002)
• Manna from Heaven (2003)

Collaborations

• Deus Irae (with Philip K. Dick) (1976)
• Coils (with Fred Saberhagen) (1982)
• The Mask of Loki (with Thomas T. Thomas) (1990)
• The Black Throne (with Fred Saberhagen) (1990)
• Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (with Robert Sheckley) (1991)
• Flare (with Thomas T. Thomas) (1992)
• If at Faust You Don't Succeed (with Robert Sheckley) (1993)
• Wilderness (with Gerald Hausman) (1994)
• A Farce to Be Reckoned With (with Robert Sheckley) (1995)
• Lord Demon (with Jane Lindskold) (August 1999)
• Psychoshop (with Alfred Bester) (1998)
• Donnerjack (with Jane Lindskold) (1997)
• Lord Demon (with Jane Lindskold) (1999)

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