Donald Metcalf Grant (April 3, 1927 – August 19, 2009) was an American

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Biography

He was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

in 1927 and graduated from the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

in 1949. Grant's interest in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

started when he began reading the stories of

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

at age 10.Eshbach 1983, pp. 166–168. He married in 1956 and has two children. Grant was involved in the founding of several science fiction and fantasy

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

publishers. He co-founded Grant-Hadley Enterprises in 1945,Chalker and Owings 1998, p. 822. The Buffalo Book Company in 1946Chalker and Owings 1998, pp. 123–125. and Centaur Press (late 1960s–1981).Chalker and Owings 1998, pp. 152–154. Centaur Press was co-founded with Charles M. Collins. It was primarily a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

publisher, though one of its more successful titles was reissued in hardcover. It was notable for reviving

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

adventure and

works of the early twentieth century for its "Time-Lost Series." Authors whose works were returned to print by Centaur Press include

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp magazine, pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sor ...

, Arthur O. Friel,

J. Allan Dunn Joseph Allan Elphinstone Dunn (21 January 1872 – 25 March 1941), best known as J. Allan Dunn, was one of the high-producing writers of the American pulp magazines. He published well over a thousand stories, novels, and serials from 1914 to ...

, Alfred H. Bill,

Jean d'Esme Jean Marie Henri d'Esménard, known as Jean d'Esme (27 September 1894 – 24 February 1966) was a French writer and journalist. Biography D'Esme was born in Shanghai, China in a noble French family originating from Provence. His father was a cus ...

, Darrel Crombie, Arthur D. Howden Smith,

Talbot Mundy Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon, 23 April 1879 – 5 August 1940) was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as th ...

, E. Charles Vivian, Will Garth, H. Warner Munn, and

William Hope Hodgson William Hope Hodgson (15 November 1877 – 19 April 1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror fiction, horror, fantasy, fan ...

. In the sole anthology it issued, the press also premiered a couple new works, one by Crombie and one by contemporary author

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

. In later years it also published longer works by contemporary authors, including Carter,

Galad Elflandsson Galad Elflandsson (born 1951) is a Canadian fantasy writer. Literary career In the 1980s, Elflandsson was a member of a group of fantasy writers who met at the House of Speculative Fiction bookstore in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which he also mana ...

, and

Robb Walsh Robb Walsh is an American food writer, cookbook author, and restaurant owner who divides his time between Galway Bay, Ireland, and Galveston, Texas. He is a former commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, Sunday; former restaurant ...

. Its books featured cover art by Jeff Jones, Robert Bruce Acheson,

Virgil Finlay Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called "part of the pulp magazine history ... one of the foremost contributors of original and imagi ...

Frank Brunner Frank Brunner (born February 21, 1949) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known for his work at Marvel Comics in the 1970s. Early life Brunner attended Manhattan's High School of Art and Design. He was in the same graduating class ...

, David Ireland,

Stephen Fabian Stephen Emil Fabian Sr. (January 3, 1930 – May 6, 2025) was an American fantasy and science-fiction artist who only became a professional artist at the age of 54 after losing his job. Despite being a self-taught artist, he became a widely know ...

, Randy Broecker, and

David Wenzel David T. Wenzel (; born November 22, 1950) is an illustrator and children's book artist. He is best known for his graphic novel adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit''. Career Wenzel's first ambition had been to work for one of the big ani ...

. Centaur's output was small, generally on the order of one to three books a year. Its publications featured thicker and less acidic paper than that utilized by most paperback houses. He also founded Grandon, Publishers in 1949Chalker and Owings 1998, pp. 316–317. (this was after his split from Thomas Hadley; the name was that of a lead character in one of Otis Adelbert Kline's fantasy novels) and Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1964.Chalker and Owings 1998, pp. 318–341. He died in August 2009 at 82.

Awards

* 1976, World Fantasy Special Award: Professional * 1979,

Balrog Awards The Balrog Awards were a set of awards given annually from 1979 to 1985 for the best works and achievements of speculative fiction in the previous year. The awards were named after the balrog, a fictional creature from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-ear ...

: professional achievement * 1980, World Fantasy Special Award: Professional * 1983, World Fantasy Special Award: Professional * 1984,

World Fantasy Convention Award The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "prestig ...

* 2003,

World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Donald M. 1927 births 2009 deaths American book publishers (people) Businesspeople from Providence, Rhode Island University of Rhode Island alumni People from North Port, Florida 20th-century American businesspeople