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

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

. Much of his focus has been on

dark fantasy Dark fantasy, also called fantasy horror, is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. The term is ambiguously used to describe stories that combine horror fiction, horror ...

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

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

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 appearance ...

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

'' 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 and Horror Writers of America.

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'', 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" 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 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, numerous works using

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...

, 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 Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...

, and

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 ...

. 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 fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

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 H. P. Lovecraft scholars Living people American science fiction critics American science fiction editors American weird fiction writers Weird Tales editors