Francis Paul Wilson (born May 17, 1946, in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

and author of horror,

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

, medical thrillers,

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 ...

, and other

genres Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other form ...

literary fiction Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...

. His books include the Repairman Jack novels—including ''Ground Zero'', ''The Tomb'', and ''Fatal Error''—the Adversary cycle—including ''The Keep''—and a young adult series featuring the teenage Jack. Wilson has won the

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...

, the

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 ...

, the

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

from the San Diego ComiCon, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers of America, among other honors. He lives in

Wall, New Jersey Wall Township is a township within Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several different highways within the heart of the Jersey Shore region, the township is a transportation hub of Central New Jersey and a bedro ...

Career

Wilson made his first sales in 1970 to '' Analog'' while still in medical school (graduating in 1973), and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies. His

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

was ''Healer'' (1976). In 1981, he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller '' The Keep'', which was adapted into a film in 1983. In the 1990s, he moved from science fiction and horror to medical thrillers and interactive scripting for

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it w ...

and other multimedia companies. He, along with

Matthew J. Costello Matthew John Costello (born 1948) is an Irish-American writer specializing in the genres of Horror fiction, horror, Gothic fiction, gothic, and science fiction. His articles have appeared in publications including the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ' ...

, created and scripted '' FTL Newsfeed'', which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992 to 1996. Among Wilson's best-known characters is the

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

Repairman Jack, an urban mercenary introduced in the 1984 ''New York Times'' bestseller '' The Tomb''. Unwilling to start a series character at the time, Wilson refused to write a second Repairman Jack novel until '' Legacies'' in 1998. Since then he has written one per year along with side trips into vampire fiction (the retro ''Midnight Mass''), science fiction ('' Sims''), and even a New Age thriller (''The Fifth Harmonic''). Current book sales are around six million. Throughout his writing – especially in his earlier science fiction works (most notably ''An Enemy of the State'') – Wilson has included explicitly

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

political philosophy which extends to his "Repairman Jack" series. He won the first

in 1979 for his novel '' Wheels Within Wheels'' and another in 2004 for ''Sims''. The Libertarian Futurist Society has also honored Wilson with their Hall of Fame Award for ''Healer'' (in 1990) and ''An Enemy of the State'' (in 1991). In 2015 he received the third special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement; the previous two recipients were

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 his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times an ...

and

Vernor Vinge Vernor Steffen Vinge (; October 2, 1944 – March 20, 2024) was an American science fiction author and professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technolo ...

. In 2021, his "

Lipidleggin' "Lipidleggin'" is a science fiction short story by American writer F. Paul Wilson. It was first published in '' Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' in 1978. Plot In a world where the government has outlawed butter and untreated eggs because ...

" won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Wilson is a noted fan of

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 ...

''Why? Because HPL is special to me.''
Donald A. Wollheim is to blame. He started me on Lovecraft. It was 1959. I was just a kid, a mere thirteen years old when he slipped me my first fix. I was a good kid up till then, reading Ace Doubles and clean, wholesome science fiction stories by the likes of Heinlein, E. E. Smith,
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 his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times an ...
, Fred Pohl, and the rest. But he brought me down with one anthology. He knew what he was doing. He called it ''The Macabre Reader'' and slapped this lurid neato cool
Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American people, American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but ...
cover on it. I couldn't resist. I bought it. I read it. And that was it. The beginning of my end.

Like other American science fiction writers directly or indirectly influenced by

Campbell's The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campb ...

view of the genre as a literature of ideas, Wilson makes use of his work to explore trends and technologies speculatively as they manifest. A prominent example is his novel ''An Enemy of the State'' (published in 1980), which was written during the 1970s, an era that saw

stagflation Stagflation is the combination of high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment. The term ''stagflation'', a portmanteau of "stagnation" and "inflation," was popularized, and probably coined, by British politician Iain Mac ...

develop in the U.S. economy. Throughout the book, Wilson runs chapter headings quoting from economic works such as '' Fiat Money Inflation in France'' and '' KYFHO'', a kind of anarchic philosophy that he invented as model for a perfect society. The protagonist La Nague was born on Tolive, where the philosophy led to a government described in detail in "The Healer". '' The Keep'' was later made into a movie. Wilson said in 2003 that there was talk of a film based on a Repairman Jack novel.

Hate to say it (being a devout believer in
Murphy's law Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." Though similar statements and concepts have been made over the course of history, the law itself was coined by, and named after, Americ ...
), but ''The Tomb'' looks like it's on its way to being filmed this year. Last October, after seven years of development, numerous options, five screenwriters, and eight scripts, Beacon Films (''Air Force One'', '' Thirteen Days'', ''
Spy Game ''Spy Game'' is a 2001 action thriller film directed by Tony Scott and written by Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata. The film stars Robert Redford and Brad Pitt as CIA operatives entangled in a covert rescue mission during the final day ...
'', etc.) finally bought film rights. Disney/Touchstone/Buena Vista will be partnering and distributing the film here and abroad. The film will be called ''Repairman Jack'' (the idea is to make him a franchise character).

His short stories "Foet", "Traps", and "

" were filmed as short films and collected on the DVD ''OTHERS: The Tales of F. Paul Wilson''. His short story "Pelts" was adapted into the season 2 episode of ''

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is a horror anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherm ...

'' titled " Pelts". Short stories "Definitive Therapy" (published in '' The Further Adventures of The Joker'') and "Hunters" (published in ''Soft and Others'') were adapted as short films. In January 2012, Wilson began writing for the tech website ''

Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'', mostly in the persona of Repairman Jack.

Personal Life

Wilson has been a resident of

Wall Township, New Jersey Wall Township is a Township (New Jersey), township within Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several different highways within the heart of the Jersey Shore region, the township is a t ...

. He is a practicing physician as a

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become li ...

Bibliography

The Adversary Cycle

* '' The Keep'' (1981), * ''The Tomb'' (1984), (re-released in 2004 under its original title, ''Rakoshi'', by Borderlands Press) * ''The Touch'' (1986), * '' Reborn'' (1990), (revised edition in 2009) * ''Reprisal'' (1991), (revised edition in 2011) * '' Nightworld'' (1992), (revised edition in 2012) * ''Signalz'' (2020) (a prelude to ''Nightworld'')

Repairman Jack

# "Fix" (novella) (with J.A. Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson) # ''The Tomb'' (1984), (re-released in 2004 under its original title, ''Rakoshi'', by Borderlands Press) # "A Day in the Life" (short story) (1989) (available in ''The Barrens and Others'' and ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # "The Last Rakosh" (1990) (later incorporated into '' All The Rage'', then in 2006 as revised hardcover and paperback editions; also available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # "The Long Way Home" (short story; available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') (1992) # "Home Repairs" (short story) (1996) (later incorporated into '' Conspiracies''; also available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # "The Wringer" (short story) (1996) (later incorporated into ''Fatal Error''; also available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # '' Legacies'' (1998), # '' Conspiracies'' (1999), # '' All The Rage'' (2000), # '' Hosts'' (2001), # '' The Haunted Air'' (2002), # '' Gateways'' (2003), # '' Crisscross'' (2004), # '' Infernal'' (2005), # '' Harbingers'' (2006), # "Interlude at Duane's" (short story) (2006) (available in the James Patterson–edited anthology ''Thriller'', ''Aftershock and Others'', and in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # "Infernal Night" (short story) (with Heather Graham) (available in ''FaceOff'', and also independently published) # ''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...

'' (2007), # "Do-Gooder" (short short) (2007) (a 200-copy limited one-sheet "short short"; available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # ''By The Sword'' (2008), # ''Ground Zero'' (2009), # "Recalled" (short story) (2009) (available in

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...

tribute book ''He is Legend'' as a crossover with Matheson's "The Distributor"; also available in ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'') # ''Fatal Error'' (2010), # ''The Dark at the End'' (2011), # ''Quick Fixes- Tales of Repairman Jack'' (contains "A Day in the Life", "The Last Rakosh", "Home Repairs", "The Long Way Home", "The Wringer", "Interlude at Duane's", "Do-Gooder", "Recalled", "and "Piney Power") (2011), # The heavily revised (2012) version of ''Nightworld'' is styled as "a Repairman Jack novel" and marks the end of the RJ and Adversary cycles. # "Santa Jack: (short story) (2013) (excerpted from '' Legacies'') # ''The Last Christmas'' (2019, an interlude that takes place between ''Ground Zero'' and ''Fatal Error''

Young Repairman Jack

# ''Secret Histories'' (young adult novel) (2008) # ''Secret Circles'' (young adult novel) (2010) # ''Secret Vengeance'' (young adult novel) (2011)

Early Repairman Jack

# ''Cold City'' (2012) # ''Dark City'' (2013) # ''Fear City'' (2014)

LaNague Federation

# ''Healer'' (1976), (reprinted in 2005, includes "To Fill the Sea and Air" ) # '' Wheels Within Wheels'' (1978), (revised/reprinted in 2005, includes "Higher Centers" and "The Man with the Anteater" ) # ''An Enemy of the State'' (1980), (reprinted in 2005, includes "Lipidleggin'" and "Ratman" ) # ''Dydeetown World'' (1989), # ''The Tery'' (1990), (revised in 2006, ) *''The LaNague Chronicles'' (1992), (includes ''An Enemy of the State'', ''Wheels Within Wheels'' and ''Healer'') *''The Complete LaNague'' (2013) (includes "Lipidleggin’", ''An Enemy of the State'', ''Dydeetown World'', ''The Tery'', "To Fill the Sea and Air", "The Man with the Anteater", "Higher Centers", ''Wheels Within Wheels'', "Ratman", and ''Healer'')

Nocturnia Chronicles

# ''Definitely Not Kansas'' (2015) (with Thomas F. Monteleone) # ''Family Secrets'' (2016) (with Thomas F. Monteleone) # ''The Silent Ones'' (2018) (with Thomas F. Monteleone)

The ICE Sequence

# ''Panacea'' (2016) # ''The God Gene'' (2018) # ''The Void Protocol'' (2019)

Other Novels

* ''Black Wind'' (1988) * ''Sibs'' (1991) (U.S.) / ''Sister Night'' (1993) (U.K.) * ''Select'' (aka ''The Foundation'') (1993) * ''Implant'' (1995) (writing as Colin Andrews) * ''Virgin'' (1996) (writing as Mary Elizabeth Murphy) * ''Mirage'' (1996) (with

) * ''Deep as the Marrow'' (1997) (writing as Colin Andrews) * ''Nightkill'' (1997) (with Steven Spruill) (some editions show "Steve Lyon") * ''Masque'' (1998) (with Matthew J. Costello) (note: ebook release has been retitled ''DNA Wars'') * ''The Fifth Harmonic'' (2003) * ''Artifact'' (2003) (with Kevin J. Anderson, Janet Berlinger and Matthew J. Costello) * ''Midnight Mass'' (2004) * ''The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium'' (2007) (an expansion to his short fiction version in the FPW-edited anthology ''Freak Show'') * ''The Proteus Cure'' (2013) (with Tracy L. Carbone) * ''A Necessary End'' (2014) (with Sarah Pinborough) * Duad Series ** ''Double Threat'' (2021) ** ''Double Dose'' (2022) * Rx series (writing as Nina Abbott) ** ''Rx Murder'' (2021) ** ''Rx Mayhem'' (2022) * The Hidden series ** ''The Upwelling'' (2024) ** ''Lexie'' (2024)

Short Story Collections

* ''Soft and Others'' (1989) * ''Ad Statum Perspicuum'' (1990) * ''The Barrens and Others'' (1998) * ''Sims'' (2003) * ''A Little Beige Book of Non-Descript Stories'' (2004) * ''Aftershock & Others'' (2009) * ''Secret Stories: Tales from the Secret History'' (2019) * ''Other Sandboxes'' (2024)

Uncollected Short Fiction

* ''Nyro Fiddles'' (1992) * ''The Lord's Work'' (1992) * ''Winter Quarters'' (1992) * ''The Pine Barrens, NJ'' (1992) * ''Good Friday'' (1999) * ''Feral'' (2003) * ''Sermon'' (2004) (with John B. Ford) * ''The Tapeworm Letters'' (2004) * ''Riding the R'' (2007) * ''The Sound of Blunder'' (2008) * ''Wayward Pines: The Widow Lindley'' (2013) * ''The Dead World'' (2013) * ''Renascence'' (2014) (with Rhodi Hawk) * ''Astraphobia'' (2015) * ''The Adventure of the Abu Qir Sapphire'' (2018) * ''The Compendium of Srem'' (2018) * ''The Long and the Short of It'' (2018) * ''Wardenclyffe'' (2018) * ''To the Lonely Sea and the Sky'' (2020) * ''The Last Bonneville'' (2023)

Anthologies

* ''Freak Show'' (1992) * ''Diagnosis: Terminal'' (1996)

Awards

References

External links

Official Repairman Jack site
*
F. Paul Wilson
at

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. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

*
A fan-created wiki
*

Interviews

Interview with Free Talk Live

Interview on wotmania.com

Interview with Rodger Nichols (2018) The God Gene

Film version of ''The Keep''

– Includes interviews with F. Paul Wilson,

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. He has received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four ...

and

Enki Bilal Enki Bilal (born Enes Bilal; born 7 October 1951) is a French comic book creator and film director. Biography Early life Bilal was born in Belgrade, PR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from Karlovy ...

, creator of the visual given to "Molasar," the film version of ''The Keep''s villain.
The alternative endings
of the movie

—Parody page about the movie adaptation of ''The Keep'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, F. Paul 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American horror writers American male novelists American male short story writers American primary care physicians American science fiction writers Inkpot Award winners Living people Novelists from New Jersey People from Wall Township, New Jersey American weird fiction writers Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey Xavier High School (New York City) alumni 1946 births Writers from Monmouth County, New Jersey