Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

. Much of his focus has been on

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

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.

Life and career

Schweitzer was born in

Woodbury, New Jersey Woodbury is the county seat of Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the South Jersey region of the state.

,''

Contemporary Authors Online ''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work which has been published by Gale since 1962. It provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers. ''Contemporary Authors'' does not have selective inclusion cr ...

'', Detroit: Gale, 2007. son of Francis Edward and Mary Alice Schweitzer. He attended

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

from 1970 to 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 to 1982 and ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is 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. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'' from 1982 to 1986, was co-editor with George H. Scithers and

John Gregory Betancourt John Gregory Betancourt (born October 25, 1963) is an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, as well as short stories. He is also known as the founder and publisher, with his wife Kim Betancourt, of Wildside Press in 1989 ...

of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

'' from 1987 to 1990 and sole editor of the same magazine from 1991 to 1994 and its successor, ''Worlds of Fantasy & Horror'', from 1994 to 1996. From 1998 to 2007 he was again co-editor of the revived ''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 The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While ...

and Horror Writers of America. He lives and works in the Philadelphia area.

Fiction

Most of Schweitzer's fiction is in the areas of dark fantasy and horror. He works most frequently in fiction of shorter lengths, though he has also written a number of novels. His first, ''

The White Isle ''The White Isle'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, illustrated by Stephen Fabian. Publication history Originally published as a 10,000-word novelette in ''Weirdbook'' no. 9, July 1975, the author later expanded it into ...

'', an epic, disillusioning quest to the underworld, was written in 1976 but remained unpublished until 1989. '' The Shattered Goddess'' (1982) takes place in a far future "

Dying Earth ''Dying Earth'' is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collections to a fix-up (novel created from older ...

" setting, which he later revisited for a sequence of short stories collected as '' Echoes of the Goddess'' (2013). The first work in his tales of the world of the Great River focusing on child-sorcerer Sekenre, "To Become a Sorcerer" (1991), was nominated for the 1992

World Fantasy Award for Best Novella In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and later expanded into the novel '' The Mask of the Sorcerer'' (1995). Additional stories in the series have been collected in '' Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer'' (2004). His latest novel, '' The Dragon House'' (2018), melds his customary dark tone with elements of humor in a lighter work for young adults. Other works include his stories of the lapsed knight Julian, most collected in '' We Are All Legends'' (1981), his tales of legendary madman

Tom O'Bedlam "Tom o' Bedlam" is the title of an anonymous poem in the "mad song" genre, written in the voice of a homeless " Bedlamite". The poem was probably composed at the beginning of the 17th century. In ''How to Read and Why'' Harold Bloom called it "the ...

, numerous works using H. P. Lovecraft's

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...

, many collected in '' Awaiting Strange Gods: Weird and Lovecraftian Fictions'' (2015), and a large body of unconnected short stories.

Nonfiction

Schweitzer is an authority on the history of speculative fiction and has written numerous critical and bibliographical works on both the field in general and such writers as

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...

, H. P. Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard. Many of his essays, reviews and author interviews have been collected into book form. He has also edited a number of anthologies and short story collections.

Awards

Together with his editorial colleagues Schweitzer won the 1992

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

special award in the professional category for ''Weird Tales''. His poem ''Remembering the Future'' won the 2006 ''Asimov's Science Fiction''s Readers' Award for best poem.

Bibliography

References

External links

"Dreamer on the wildside"
– 2004 interview by ''Cold Print'' magazine

– 2007 interview by Portal Press Books * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweitzer, Darrell 1952 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American short story writers American fantasy writers American horror writers American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets American male short story writers American science fiction writers American speculative fiction critics American speculative fiction editors H. P. Lovecraft scholars Living people Science fiction critics Science fiction editors Weird fiction writers Weird Tales editors