Chris "C. J." Henderson (December 26, 1951 – July 4, 2014) was an American writer of

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

, hardboiled crime fiction and comic books, known for such works as the ''Piers Knight'' and ''Teddy London'' series. His comics work includes books for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

and

Valiant Comics Valiant Comics is an American comic books, comic book publisher. The company was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky. In 1994, the company was sold to Acclaim E ...

Early life

C. J. Henderson grew up in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. His family moved around for the first few years of his life until finally settling in Bridgeville in Western Pennsylvania. After attending the California University of Pennsylvania, he moved to New York City. He began telling stories when he was young. He listed his favorite authors as

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...

, H.P. Lovecraft,

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which w ...

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', '' V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell ...

Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horro ...

John Brunner John Brunner may refer to: * Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet (1842–1919), British industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament * John L. Brunner (1929–1980), Pennsylvania politician * Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baronet (1865–1929), British Liberal ...

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his ...

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...

Lester Dent Lester Dent (October 12, 1904 – March 11, 1959) was an American pulp-fiction writer, best known as the creator and main writer of the series of novels about the scientist and adventurer Doc Savage. The 159 Doc Savage novels that Dent wrote over ...

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, ...

, Edgar Rice Burroughs,

C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbel ...

Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in Da ...

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

Brett Halliday Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 – February 4, 1977) is the primary pen name of Davis Dresser, an American mystery and western writer. Halliday is best known for the long-lived series of Michael Shayne mysteries he wrote, and later commissione ...

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

C.L. Moore Catherine Lucille Moore (January 24, 1911 – April 4, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, who first came to prominence in the 1930s writing as C. L. Moore. She was among the first women to write in the science fiction and ...

, and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his ach ...

. His favorite poem was Shelley's "

Ozymandias "Ozymandias" ( ) is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). It was first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of '' The Examiner'' of London. The poem was included the following year in Shelley's coll ...

Career

Before he was able to make a living from writing, Henderson worked in a variety of jobs, such as cooking, waiting tables and washing dishes in the food service industry, managing a movie theater, interior painting, and working as a blackjack dealer, road crew technician, salesman and bank guard. He has worked in education as an instructor of English and creative writing, drama coach and camp counselor. Aside from fiction, his publishing work also includes working as a movie critic, magazine editor. His best-known work in the

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...

genre is ''Jack Hagee'' detective series and his supernatural detective ''Teddy London'' series, as well as many other short stories and novels featuring many characters from

Lovecraftian Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...

fiction and '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker'', as well as his own. Henderson wrote comic books for such companies as

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempitern ...

Tekno Comix Tekno Comix was an American publishing company that produced comic books from 1995 to 1997. History The company was founded by Laurie Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein as a division of their publicly traded company, Big Entertainment. Tekno Comix ...

Moonstone Books Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales. The company began publishing creator-owned com ...

, and

Valiant Valiant may refer to: People * James Valiant (1884–1917), English cricketer * The Valiant Brothers, a professional wrestling tag team of storyline brothers ** Jerry Valiant, a ring name of professional wrestler John Hill (1941-2010) ** Jimmy V ...

,Author biography, ''Punisher: The Prize'' (Marvel Comics, 1990). most notably on Tekno's ''

Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice ''Lady Justice'' is a comic book published by Tekno Comix, starting in 1995. It was created by Neil Gaiman and the first three issues were written by Wendi Lee, with art by Greg Boone. The remaining issues of the first series were written by C. ...

'' and Moonstone's

Kolchak Kolchak, Kolçak or Kolčák is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Iliash Kolchak ("Kolchak-Pasha") (fl. before 1710–1743), Moldavian mercenary and military commander * Alexander Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (rus ...

adaptations. Henderson also contributed to the ''

SFWA Bulletin The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a Non-profit organization, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction an ...

'', the official publication of the

Science Fiction and Fantasy 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. Whi ...

. One of his articles, in which he praised

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiratio ...

for maintaining "quiet dignity the way a woman should", was part of the cause of a controversy about

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers prima ...

in the ''Bulletin'' in 2013, leading to the resignation of the ''Bulletin''s editor

Jean Rabe Jean Rabe is an American journalist, editor, gamer and writer of fantasy and mystery. After a career as a newspaper reporter, she was employed by TSR, Inc. for several years as head of the Role Playing Game Association and editor of the ''Polyh ...

Personal life

Henderson was married to fashion designer Grace Tin Lo. They and their daughter,

Erica Henderson Erica Henderson is an American two-time Eisner Award-winning comics artist and animator, known for her work on ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' and '' Jughead'', and for her animation work on '' Venture Bros.'' Early life Henderson was born in Ne ...

, lived in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. Erica became a comic book artist, drawing such books as

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Squirrel Girl. The solo series debuted in January 2015 and ran for 8 issues, and was relaunched in October 2015 as part of Marvel's All-New, A ...

(

), and Jughead (

Archie Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands * Archie Blake (mathemati ...

) Henderson's death was announced as July 4, 2014, the following day by Drew Cass at his final publisher Paradigm Trading.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Brooklyn Knight'' (

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

, 2010) * ''Central Park Knight'' (

, 2011)

Short story collections

* ''Lai Wan: Tales of the Dreamwalker'' (1st Edition, Marietta Publishing Company, 2007. 2nd Edition, Paradigm Trading, 2014) * ''Where Angels Fear'' (

Dark Quest Books Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...

, 2010, )

Prose

* ''What You Pay For'' ( Gryphon Publications) * short story in ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The ch ...

Chronicles'' (Moonstone Books, 2007) * "The Fox and the Tiger" (with Tim Lasiuta), in '' Tales of Zorro'' (Moonstone Books, 2008)

Comics

* "Duty" (with

Trevor Von Eeden Trevor Von Eeden (born July 24, 1959) is a Guyanese-American comics artist, actor and writer known for his work on such titles as ''Black Lightning'', ''Batman'', '' Green Arrow'', ''Power Man and Iron Fist'', and the biographical series ''The Orig ...

and

Josef Rubinstein Josef "Joe" Rubinstein (born 4 June 1958) is a comic book artist and inker, most associated with inking Marvel Comics' '' The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' and the 1982 four-issue ''Wolverine'' miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank M ...

), '' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' #105-106 (DC Comics) * ''

Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher mad ...

: The Prize'' (with

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

) (Marvel Comics, 1990) * ''

Neil Gaiman's Wheel of Worlds Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish '' Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

'' #0 (with

Michael Netzer Michael Netzer (born 9 October 1955) is an American-Israeli artist best known for his comic book work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics in the 1970s, as well as for his online presence. Early life Michael Nasser (later Netzer) was born in Detroit, ...

) (Tekno Comix, 1995) * ''

'' #1-2 (with

and

Rick Magyar Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

) (Tekno, 1995)

Kolchak - Novels and Novellas

* ''Kolchak: A Black and Evil Truth'', Novel (2007, Moonstone) Prose novellas with spot illustrations include: * "Kolchak: The Lovecraftian Horror" (with Jaime Calderon) (2007, Moonstone) * "Kolchak: The Lovecraftian Damnation" (with Robert Hack) (2010, Moonstone) * "Kolchak: The Lovecraftian Gambit" (with Robert Hack), in ''Kolchak: Necronomicon'' (2012, Moonstone) * "Kolchak: The Lost World" (with Douglas Klauba) (2012, Moonstone)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Cj 1951 births 2014 deaths American male writers American comics writers Deaths from cancer