Roger Zelazny

Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 in Euclid, Ohio - June 14, 1995 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction stories. Six-time winner of the Hugo Award, including awards for the novels El señor de la luz (1968) and ...And Call Me Conrad (1966), later published as You, the Immortal.

He was the only child of Joseph Frank Zelazny (Żelazny) and Josephine Sweet. His father had emigrated from Poland when he was young and met his mother in Chicago. In high school, Roger Zelazny was the editor of the high school newspaper and joined the Creative Writing Club. In the fall of 1955, he began attending college at the Western Reserve, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1959. He was accepted to Columbia University in New York, majoring in Jacobin and Elizabethan theater, graduating with a Master of Arts in 1962.

He had the rare gift of conceiving and portraying worlds with plausible magical systems, powers, and supernatural beings. His captivating descriptions of the intricacies, the magical happenings of his imagined worlds distinguished his works from those of otherwise similar authors.

He was a prolific writer, creating an entirely new setting for each book, with the notable exception of the Ámbar novels and related bilogies Madwand / The Changeling, The Isle of the Dead / To Die in Italbar, and Dilvish, the Damned / The Changing Earth.

Ambar's novels

Though his early works garnered more critical acclaim, Zelazny is probably best known for the Ámbar novels (in English, Amber).

Other important books

• 1966:
  • The Lord of Dreams (Dream), also published as The One Who Gives Form (He Who Shapes)
  • And Call Me Conradlater published as You, the immortal (This Immortal)
• 1968 - The Lord of Light (Lord of Light)
• 1969:
  • Creatures of light and darkness (Creatures of Light and Darkness)
  • The Island of the Dead (Isle of the Dead)
  • The Callejón de la Muerte (Damnation Alley), adapted to the cinema
• 1971:
  • Jack of Shadows
  • Love is a Imaginary Number (The Doors Of His Face, The Lamps Of His Mouth)
• 1973 - Today we choose faces (Today We Choose Faces)
• 1976:
  • Doorways in the Sand
  • Deus Iraewith Philip K. Dick
  • My name is Legion (My Name is Legion)
• 1979 - Signs on the Way (Roadmarks)
• 1981:
  • The Changeling
  • Madwand
  • The Changing Earth (The Changing Land)
• 1982 - Eye of Cat

Eye of Cat is probably the last of his best works. Later collaborative works appear to be primarily the other author's works:

• 1990:
  • The Black Thronewith Fred Saberhagen
  • The Mask of Lokiwith Thomas T. Thomas
• 1992 - Flarewith Thomas Timoux Thomas
• 1993 - A Night in the Lonesome October

After his death two books were published as collaborations with Jane Lindskold:

• 1997 - Donnerjack
• 1999 - Lord Demon

Anthologies

• 1980 - The Last Defender of Camelot
• 1982 - Dilvish, the Cursed (Dilvish the Damned)
• Fire and Ice