Benjamin J. Szumskyj is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n who formerly was an editor, author and critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

 of weird fiction, horror and fantasy literature.

Literary Work

Between 2003 and 2008 he edited several books on authors such as Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

, Karl Edward Wagner

Karl Edward Wagner

Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...

, Fritz Leiber

Fritz Leiber

Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...

, Robert Bloch

Robert Bloch

Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...

 and William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty is an American writer and filmmaker. The novel The Exorcist, written in 1971, is his magnum opus; he also penned the subsequent screenplay version of the film, for which he won an Academy Award....

 and wrote dozens of essays and articles on literary criticism for several magazines and journals such as Notes in Contemporary Literature, Wormwood: Writings about Fantasy, Supernatural and Decadent Literature and Star*Line: Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association

Science Fiction Poetry Association

The Science Fiction Poetry Association was established in 1978 by Suzette Haden Elgin to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. The organization administers the Rhysling Award and publishes the journal Star*Line, as well as providing market listings and industry news...

.

He was also general editor of the journal Studies in Fantasy Literature and editor-in-chief of the journal Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, before the former was cancelled due to the publisher shutting down and the latter being handed over to poet and critic Phillip A. Ellis. He was also the official editor of SSWFT (Sword and Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus) amateur press association, which has members in Australia, US and the UK from its inception in March 2001 until Dec 2008. (SWWFT apa's Official Editor is now Leigh Blackmore

Leigh Blackmore

Leigh David Blackmore is an Australian horror writer, critic, editor, occultist and musician. He served as the second President of the Australian Horror Writers Association . His work has been nominated twice for the Ditmar Award, once for fiction and once for criticism...

).

Christian committments

It was in 2008 that Szumskyj left the field of literary criticism to devote his life to his Christian commitments (as noted in Within the Shadow of the Cross, S.S.W.F.T. #37).

Today, he is a devout Christian and qualified teacher (Bachelor of Arts in Education / Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences, minor in English / Bachelor of Theology) who currently teaches at a private Christian high school. He also has a graduate diploma as a librarian technician and a graduate diploma in Christian Studies from Tabor Bible College.

When not working, he focuses all his time and energy on Biblical studies and has begun to write articles for Christian publications such as Got Questions Ministries, Creation Ministries International, Alive Magazine

Alive Magazine

alive is a Canadian natural health and wellness magazine. Published monthly, alive provides readers with information on leading healthy lifestyles, and focuses on a range of topics from natural health, organics, fitness, beauty, and nutrition, to holistic healing, emotional health and sustainability...

, Footprints Australia Magazine for Christian Women, and several others.