Dallas William Mayr (November 10, 1946 – January 24, 2018), better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

s and three further nominations. His novels included '' Off Season'', ''Offspring'', and ''Red'', the latter two of which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received the

World Horror Convention Grand Master Award The World Horror Convention Grand Master Award is a yearly distinction given to an author who has contributed greatly to the field of horror literature. Nominees must be alive at the time of voting and can not have previously won the award. The aw ...

for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.Jack Ketchum ''Official Website'', p. 1. Retrieved March 7, 2011.

Biography

Early life and education

Ketchum was born in

Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the 27,391 counted in the 2000 Census. In 2019, the Population Estimates Prog ...

, as the only child to German immigrant parents. His father, Dallas William Mayr (1908–1997), served in the artillery during World War II and his mother, Evelyn Fahner Mayr (1915–1987), was an accountant and office manager. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Emerson College in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, and later taught at the high-school level in Brookline, Massachusetts, for two years.

Early years

A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: ' interests erebooks, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs ..pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing'. He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters. He was also big on Halloween, and his mother, being ' ..pretty good with the sewing machine .., ensured young Ketchum had an authentic costume; his favorites were

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

and Superman. Ketchum further expressed an early interest in horror films such as '' Nosferatu ''and the classic

Universal Monsters Universal Classic Monsters (also known as Universal Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters) is a media franchise based on a series of horror films primarily produced by Universal Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although not initially conc ...

such as ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...

'' and ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

''. Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of ''Psycho'', who became his mentor. He supported Ketchum's work, just as his work was supported by his own mentor, H. P. Lovecraft. Ketchum's relationship with Bloch lasted until Bloch's death in 1994.Jack Ketchum, Official My Space page, accessed, March 7, 2002. Ketchum's parents were the owners of a luncheonette and soda fountain where Jack worked to support his writing, as a short-order cook during the day and a soda jerk after dark. Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial '' Off Season''), including acting as agent for novelist

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

at Scott Meredith Literary Agency, a pivotal point in his career; his extraordinary encounter with Miller at his home in the Pacific Palisades is one of the subjects of his memoir in ''Book of Souls''. He also sold articles and stories — both fiction and nonfiction — to various rock 'n roll and men's magazines to supplement his income. His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity. Throughout his life, Ketchum read widely and voraciously, authors such as Robert Bloch,

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

Jim Harrison James Harrison (December 11, 1937 – March 26, 2016) was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s ...

, Franz Douskey and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

. Apart from his proficiency as a short-story and magazine writer and having a vivid imagination, reading was the essential tool in the writing kit that led Ketchum from his ''7th Grade A-Minus Essay'' to the ''Magazines'' and, eventually, to ''Off Season'' and beyond.

The Jerzy Livingston years

Before Ketchum turned to novel writing, he sold a prolific number of short fiction and articles to magazines. His initial pen name, Jerzy Livingston, came about during this period. Because he often had more than one piece published in a specific magazine, he would use his own name for the first byline and then adopt a pseudonym for the others. He came from

, and at the time, had been reading work by the author Jerzy Kosiński: "I liked the in-joke. Hence, Jerzy Livingston." he explained."Jack Ketchum Interview" in ''Vaguely Borgesian'', April 7, 2003. One of his best-known characters while writing as Jerzy Livingstone is Stroup, a play on Proust: Stroup, however, had zero understanding of people, even himself. Ketchum refers to Stroup as " boozer. a loser. a

homophobe Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, ma ...

. A highly questionable friend and unreliable lover. Misogynist as hell and for the most part proud of it." Stroup is the exact opposite of Marcel Proust, whom Ketchum calls " guably the most sensitive writer in history". Stroup appeared in the men's magazine '' Swank''. He was resurrected in the tale "Sheep Meadow Story" that formed part of the book ''Triage'' (2001), a collection with Richard Laymon and Edward Lee. His exploits can be found collected in ''Broken on the Wheel of Sex: The Jerzy Livingston Years'' (2007).

Death

Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.

Awards and nominations

* ''The Box'' — (1994)

for Best Short Story * ''Right to Life'' — (1999) Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Long Fiction * ''Gone'' — (2000) Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Fiction * ''The Lost'' — (2001) Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Novel * ''The Haunt'' — (2001) Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Short Fiction * ''Peaceable Kingdom'' — (2003) Bram Stoker Award for Best Collection * ''Closing Time'' — (2003) Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction *

(2011) * ''I'm Not Sam'' — (2012) Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Long Fiction (with Lucky McKee) * ''I'm Not Sam'' — (2012)

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic are presented a ...

nominee for Best Novella (with Lucky McKee)

Bibliography

Novels

Filmography

Writer

* '' The Lost'' (2006) * '' The Girl Next Door'' (2007) * ''

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

'' (2008) * ''

Offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This ca ...

'' (2009) * '' The Woman'' (2011) * ''Mail Order'' (short, 2011) * ''Olivia'' (short, 2013) * '' XX'' ("The Box" segment, 2017)

Actor

* ''The Lost'' (2006) as Teddy Panik * ''Header'' (2006) as State Trooper No. 2 * ''The Girl Next Door'' (2007) as Carnival * ''Red'' (2008) as Bartender * ''Offspring'' (2009) as Max Joseph

Self

* ''The Cult of Ichi'' (2007) * ''The Making of The Girl Next Door'' (2007) * ''Dark Dreamers'' (2011) * ''Inside the Plain Brown Wrapping'' (2013)

References

External links

Official Website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchum, Jack 1946 births 2018 deaths American horror writers 20th-century American novelists Splatterpunk People from Livingston, New Jersey Emerson College alumni Novelists from New Jersey 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers