Jack Dann
Encyclopedia
Jack Dann is an American
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
, Roald Dahl
, Lewis Carroll
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
.
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
, Pamela Sargent
, Gardner Dozois
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
s and fandom
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
to join Janeen Webb
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
region of Victoria
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
and New York
.
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
. (Donald H. Tuck
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
, Roald Dahl
, Lewis Carroll
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
.
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
, Pamela Sargent
, Gardner Dozois
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
s and fandom
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
to join Janeen Webb
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
region of Victoria
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
and New York
.
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
. (Donald H. Tuck
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an American
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
, Roald Dahl
, Lewis Carroll
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
.
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
, Pamela Sargent
, Gardner Dozois
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
s and fandom
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
to join Janeen Webb
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
region of Victoria
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
and New York
.
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
. (Donald H. Tuck
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
and Playboy
and other major magazines and anthologies and have been collected in Timetipping (1980), the retrospective short story collection Jubilee: the Essential Jack Dann (2001), including an introduction and notes by Dann and Visitations (2003).
Major shorter works include: 'Junction', a novella, later expanded into a novel, published in Fantastic Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories 23 in November 1973; 'The Dybbuk Dolls', published in New Dimensions of Science Fiction Number 5 in 1975, a fantastic tale portraying Jews in a dystopian future United States; 'Camps', published in Fantasy and Science Fiction in May 1979, a story of a terminally ill young man who experiences another man's past in a concentration camp, part-based on Dann's own brush with death in his youth; 'Down among the Dead Men', published in Oui on 11 July 1982 and co written by Gardner Dozois, also focusing on a concentration camp - the story was awarded the Premios Gilgames de Narrativa Fantastica award; 'Bad Medicine', published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in October 1986, an except from his novel Counting Coup, substantially revised.
His novella 'Da Vinci Rising', using sections of novel The Memory Cathedral together with approximately 5,000 words of new writing won the Nebula Award in 1996 and short story 'Niagra Falling', co written by Janeen Webb
was awarded the Aurealis Award in 1998.
Reading guides for Dann's novels The Memory Cathedral, The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean, The Silent, and Bad Medicine are available on the Dann's author page on the website of publisher HarperCollinsAustralia. Each guide includes reflections by the author on writing the book, questions for use with reading groups, and a list of books for further reading on the setting or related issues.
Sections of Starhiker were serialized as two novellas in Amazing
from June-September 1976, prior to the publication of the full novel version. It was translated into German, and published as Welten-Vagabund in 1979.
, of a 19th Century character, which is separated from reality, apparently is then the only human settlement left on Earth, and now situated close to Hell. Protagonist Ned Wheeler leaves the town, undertakes a journey into hell and emerges in a 20th century New York where many have dreamt of him prior to his arrival.
Respected science fiction writer Philip K. Dick was greatly impressed with the novel, commenting: "Junction is where Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven and Tony Boucher's "The Quest for Saint Aquin" meet... and yet it is an entirely new novel ... I may very well be basing some of my future work on Junction."
A novella version of Junction was published in Fantastic
in November 1973. It was nominated for the 1974 Nebula Award and Locus Award
. Dann reworked this tale for some years through a number of drafts, publishing a further section entitled 'Islands of Time' in Fantastic in September 1977. Finally the sections were combined with further material to form the full novel published in 1981. It was translated into German by Rainer Schmidt and published as Grenzland der Hölle in 1985.
provided an introduction to the Australian edition of this science fiction novel, with Cyberpunk
elements. Set in the 21st Century, it presents a post-apocalyptic world, in which telepathic shock waves - an outbreak of collective fear from the unconscious of millions - have led to widespread destruction and the reduction of many human beings to inhuman "screamers." The protagonist, Raymond Mantle, searches through this shattered world for his wife, whose absence from his life he is aware of, but whose actual presence in his memories has been erased by the "Scream." The novel also imagines a future where unfamiliar forms of consciousness, introduced by the new telepathic reality created by the "Scream," have altered the nature of humanity and questionable moral practices have become common, including the commercial availability of suicide in scenarios such as a reenactment of the sinking of the Titanic and the option of gambling with one’s organs. It is notable for extrapolations such as a precocious vision of the Internet which may seem familiar to contemporary readers, but was not a reality at the time of publication.
The novel attracted significant praise within the science fiction genre and was appreciated by both followers of humanistic and cyberpunk traditions in that field. It was compared to Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal by the Washington Post, and it was described as among the greatest science fiction novels by Science Fiction Age.
It was translated into French by Bernard Sigaud and published as La Grande Hurle in 1987, and also translated into German and published as Der Schmelzende Mensch in 1989.
It was nominated for best novel
in the 1985 Nebula Award, and Best Science Fiction Novel in the 1985 Locus Award. Revised extracts and shorter versions were published under various titles, including the novella "Amnesia" which was published in The Berkley Showcase, Vol. 3: New Writings in Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1981 and was nominated for Nebula Award for Best Novella
in 1982.
The novel was an expanded version of the novelette Echoes of Thunder, which was published in a Tor Double Novel
volume with Harlan Ellison's Run for the Stars in 1991. Dann is working on a sequel entitled Ghost Dance with author Barbara Delaplace
. Delaplace is the wife of Jack C. Haldeman, II, who passed away in 2002.
in which Leonardo da Vinci
actually constructs a number of his inventions, such as a flying machine, whose designs are well-known from his surviving sketches. He later employs some of his military inventions
during a battle in the Middle East, while in the service of a Syrian general - events which Dann projects into a year of da Vinci's life about which little is known. The novel also presents a detailed imagining of the life and character of the inventor and painter during this period, and includes his encounters with other historical characters residing in Florence
including Machiavelli and Botticelli.
The title refers to an ancient system
of memory recall, or Mnemonics, in which a building, such as a cathedral, is constructed in the mind as a container for imagined objects - which are deliberately connected to particular memories. The building can later be mentally navigated to re-encounter those objects and retrieve the memories with which they are associated. Da Vinci's memory cathedral functions in the narrative as a device through which he reviews his experiences as death approaches.
It was first published by Bantam Books
in December 1995 and has been published in ten languages to date. It won the Australian Aurealis Award
in 1997, was #1 on The Age bestseller list, and in 1996, a novella based on the novel, "Da Vinci Rising," was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Novella. The Memory Cathedral was also shortlisted for the Audio Book of the Year, which was part of the 1998 Braille & Talking Book Library Awards.
, who writes as a form of therapy later in life - or possibly as a restless spirit. After his home is razed, and his mother raped and murdered by looters, he embarks upon a journey across wartime Virginia
. The trauma of his experiences has rendered him mute, hence the title of the piece. It also colours his journey - which depicts the battlefield horrors of the American Civil War and its impact graphically - with visions of ghosts, spirits and an omnipresent "spirit dog" with symbolic resonances of the essence of warfare.
This road trip novel relates the junvenile but revelatory antics of two men in their 60s, Charlie Sarris, an apartment supervisor and John Stone, a Native American medicine man
, who meets Charlie when he moves into his apartment block. Both characters are deeply flawed, lamenting their lost youth and first discover kinship in their copious consumption of alcohol. After Charlie discovers that his teenage daughter is pregnant, and can little cope with the parental responsibilities this implies, he accompanies John on a trip to Florida
, where John intends to confront his shamanistic rival, Whiteshirt. The journey is marked by indulgent, illegal and destructive behavior on the part of both men, apparently influenced by a curse placed upon John by Whiteshirt, which equally affects Charlie and leaves them acting ostensibly as caricatures of the worst aspects of their natures.
The novel was published several years after completion, after being delayed by the collapse of original publisher, Bluejay Books. A novelette version, a revised excerpt from the novel, was published by in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
8 in October 1984, and was shortlisted for Locus Award for Best Novelette, Nebula Award for Best Novelette
and World Fantasy Award
for Best Short Story in 1985.
and alternate history approach used in The Memory Cathedral and The Silent, The Rebel supposes a version of the 1950s in which the actor James Dean
survived his infamous fatal car crash, and goes on to become a major star, film director and later Governor
of California
. As with The Memory Cathedral, the novel includes encounters with a number of other iconic figures of the period, including Marilyn Monroe
, the Kennedy family and Elvis Presley
.
This novel is published by HarperCollins Flamingo in Australia and Morrow in the U.S. Locus wrote: "The Rebel is a significant and very gripping novel, a welcome addition to Jack Dann’s growing oeuvre of speculative historical novels, sustaining further his long-standing contemplation of the modalities of myth and memory. This is alternate history with passion and difference." A companion volume, Promised Land, appeared from PS Publishing
in 2007 and further explores, through short stories and novellas, both elements of the actual and alternative 1950s setting as presented in the novel.
provided an introduction to this short horror novel about a retired Nazi hunter
, whose siblings were murdered by Nazi prison doctor, Josef Mengele
. He is propelled into an arduous and confronting journey into the Amazon Jungle
, in search of a rumored miracle working physician. This is instigated by the discovery of the purported remains of the infamous doctor, and the apparent need to purge the effects of a spiritual ailment, which strikes him at Mengele’s graveside, and may be the source of diseases with which he has become afflicted.
It was nominated for a 2008 Aurealis Award in the category of Best Horror Novel.
Christs and Other Poems (1978). The greater number of publications have been in The Anthology of Speculative Poetry and Rod Serling Presents The Twilight Zone Magazine.
, Michael Swanwick and his wife, Janeen Webb
. Dann and Webb's 1997 story, "Niagara Falling," won both the Aurealis Award and Ditmar Award for short fiction in 1998. Most collaborations have been in the short story form, and Dann published a collection of these in The Fiction Factory (2005). However, they have included novellas, and he has also written one novel with Jack C. Haldeman II, High Steel (1993). The majority of the book length publications with which he is associated are editorial collaborations.
or Jorge Luis Borges and can be complex and challenging to the reader, with a considerable sense of mystery. They have great variety and are typically highly unpredictable. They often have a surreal, dreamlike or hallucinatory quality, playing with different types of reality. They may blur the distinction between subjective and objective viewpoints, with shifting conceptual landscapes and there is often a sense of nothing quite being what it seems. The language and the images used often have a poetic quality but his choice of expression is typically precise and can equally have considerable humor or a sense of darkness.
, The Rebel: an Imagined Life of James Dean and The Silent. In the case of The Rebel, novel, he read over 100 books relating to the 1950s setting. In keeping with the approach traditionally taken by scholars of history, he has expressed a preference for consulting primary source
s, wherever possible. He has also suggested that ‘writer’s block’ is not necessarily a negative experience, but an invitation from the subconscious
to conduct more research, either through study, or through gathering and processing further life experiences, thus refilling the subconscious pool of material to fuel further creative work.
He studied in Method acting
in the 1960s, a technique which involves total immersion into a character's life, experiences, habits and outlook, and parallels this propensity for in depth research. He has made links between this training and his approach to developing his fictional characters. In the case of his novel Bad Medicine, which includes a character who is a Native American
medicine man, he spent a year with the Sioux
People, and participated in traditional ceremonies.
He advocates the development of writing technique through rigorous writing workshops, where emerging writers are guided by established writers, which he feels is a fastrack to gaining a professional writing style. He attributes the emergence of a number of talented writers in the science fiction field to this process and also suggests that his own writing has been shaped by his participation these types of events, including the Milford Writer's Workshop
. Since becoming an established writer, he has taught writing and run workshops on a regular basis.
and transformation are all themes in Dann's work he has either identified himself or have been highlighted by reviewers and commentators. His stories often deal with achieving transcendent states, undertaking spiritual journeys or encountering confronting experiences that dramatically alter the psyche. Many involve young men who are liberated from naive origins by journeys marked by alien, revelatory or otherwise confrontational experiences which transform them, leaving them with a greater connection and awareness of their general environment or wider fields of consciousness. His first and second published novels, Starhiker and Junction and a significant number of his short stories are examples of this trend. He has linked this preoccupation with his experience of coming close to death as a young man, following his hospitalisation in 1965, which he claims had a similar transformational effect on his character.
Dann is also notable in the science fiction field for having written a number of stories with Jewish themes. Dann has a Jewish background, and although affirming an affinity with the cultural aspects of this, has distanced himself from the theological tenets of Judaism due to his atheist outlook.
, J.D. Salinger and J.G. Ballard. He has suggested particular influence from Ernest Hemingway
's memoir of his 'down and out' days in Paris in the early 1920s, A Moveable Feast
. Dann read this book during his convalescence from life threatening illness in 1965, a key character forming event in his personal history.
.
He has also raised the profile of Australian writers by publishing anthologies of their work. He co-editor (with Janeen Webb
) of World Fantasy Award winning Australian anthology Dreaming Down-Under
, which Peter Goldsworthy
called "the biggest, boldest, most controversial collection of original fiction ever published in Australia." More recently, Dann edited Dreaming Again, a second anthology of Australian fantasy and speculative fiction, which was released in Australia in July 2008. The collection includes a number of stories produced by graduates of the Clarion South workshops and a mix of new and well known Australian writers.
A third volume, produced in editorial partnership with Jonathan Strahan
, entitled Legends of Australian Fantasy was published in June 2010.
Dann has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). He has been shortlisted for major science fiction and fantasy awards on numerous occasions.
has published an annotated bibliography & guide entitled The Work of Jack Dann. An updated second edition is in progress. Dann is also listed in Contemporary Authors
and the Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series; The International Authors and Writers Who's Who; Personalities of America; Men of Achievement; Who's Who in Writers, Editors, and Poets, United States and Canada; Dictionary of International Biography; the Directory of Distinguished Americans; Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century; and Who's Who in the World.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in 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...
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
, Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
.
Earlier life
Jack Dann was born in New York State in 1945 and grew up in Johnson City, New YorkJohnson City, New York
Johnson City is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 15,535 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
Genre fiction
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski is a science fiction author and editor who has written and edited a number of books. He lives with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he has co-written a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.Zebrowski won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1999 for his novel Brute Orbits...
, Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent is an American, feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. She wrote a series concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometimes compared to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, but predates it...
, Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois
Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
Science fiction convention
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expression as movies and...
s and fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
Wandering Stars
Wandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
Move to Australia
In 1994 he moved to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to join Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
region of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Work as an editor and anthologist
He was editor of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
Tor Books
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson was an American writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche...
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
Ditmar Award
The Ditmar Award has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction and science fiction fandom...
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
. (Donald H. Tuck
Donald H. Tuck
Donald Henry Tuck was a bibliographer of science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction. His works were "among the most extensive produced since the pioneering work of Everett F...
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
"Magic Tales" Anthologies
Many of his anthologies have been editorial collaborations with Gardner Dozois. Of these, the most extensive series has been the "Magic Tales"Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series
Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois have jointly edited a series of themed science fiction and fantasy anthologies, published by Ace Books....
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
Existing main articles for anthologies edited or co-edited by Jack Dann
- Beyond SingularityBeyond SingularityBeyond Singularity is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "beyond singularity" that were originally published from 1960 to 2004, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- Clones (anthology)
- Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games Dangerous Games Dangerous Games ((2007, ISBN 978-0441014903) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007, and includes stories on the theme of "dangerous games" that were originally published from 1958 to 2005...
- Escape from EarthEscape from EarthEscape from Earth: New Adventures in Space is an anthology of original science fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois that was published in 2005.-Contents:...
- Futures PastFutures PastFutures Past Futures Past Futures Past ((2006, ISBN 978-0441014545) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2006, and includes stories on the theme of "futures past" that were originally published from 1956 to 2004...
- Hackers (anthology)
- Immortals (anthology)Immortals (anthology)Immortals is an 1998 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Learning to Be Me by Greg Egan*Grotto of the Dancing Deer by Clifford D. Simak*Child of All Ages by P. J. Plauger...
- Nanotech (anthology)
- Robots (anthology)Robots (anthology)Robots is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "robots" that were originally published from 1985 to 2003, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- TimegatesTimegatesTimegates is an 1997 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Air Raid by John Varley*The Man Who Walked Home by James Tiptree, Jr.*Another Story by Ursula K...
- Wandering StarsWandering StarsWandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
- Wizards (anthology)Wizards (anthology)Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy short fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007 by Berkley Books and in 2008 by Ace Books ....
Writing career
Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in 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...
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
, Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
.
Earlier life
Jack Dann was born in New York State in 1945 and grew up in Johnson City, New YorkJohnson City, New York
Johnson City is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 15,535 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
Genre fiction
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski is a science fiction author and editor who has written and edited a number of books. He lives with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he has co-written a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.Zebrowski won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1999 for his novel Brute Orbits...
, Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent is an American, feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. She wrote a series concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometimes compared to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, but predates it...
, Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois
Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
Science fiction convention
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expression as movies and...
s and fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
Wandering Stars
Wandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
Move to Australia
In 1994 he moved to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to join Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
region of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Work as an editor and anthologist
He was editor of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
Tor Books
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson was an American writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche...
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
Ditmar Award
The Ditmar Award has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction and science fiction fandom...
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
. (Donald H. Tuck
Donald H. Tuck
Donald Henry Tuck was a bibliographer of science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction. His works were "among the most extensive produced since the pioneering work of Everett F...
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
"Magic Tales" Anthologies
Many of his anthologies have been editorial collaborations with Gardner Dozois. Of these, the most extensive series has been the "Magic Tales"Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series
Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois have jointly edited a series of themed science fiction and fantasy anthologies, published by Ace Books....
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
Existing main articles for anthologies edited or co-edited by Jack Dann
- Beyond SingularityBeyond SingularityBeyond Singularity is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "beyond singularity" that were originally published from 1960 to 2004, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- Clones (anthology)
- Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games Dangerous Games Dangerous Games ((2007, ISBN 978-0441014903) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007, and includes stories on the theme of "dangerous games" that were originally published from 1958 to 2005...
- Escape from EarthEscape from EarthEscape from Earth: New Adventures in Space is an anthology of original science fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois that was published in 2005.-Contents:...
- Futures PastFutures PastFutures Past Futures Past Futures Past ((2006, ISBN 978-0441014545) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2006, and includes stories on the theme of "futures past" that were originally published from 1956 to 2004...
- Hackers (anthology)
- Immortals (anthology)Immortals (anthology)Immortals is an 1998 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Learning to Be Me by Greg Egan*Grotto of the Dancing Deer by Clifford D. Simak*Child of All Ages by P. J. Plauger...
- Nanotech (anthology)
- Robots (anthology)Robots (anthology)Robots is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "robots" that were originally published from 1985 to 2003, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- TimegatesTimegatesTimegates is an 1997 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Air Raid by John Varley*The Man Who Walked Home by James Tiptree, Jr.*Another Story by Ursula K...
- Wandering StarsWandering StarsWandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
- Wizards (anthology)Wizards (anthology)Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy short fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007 by Berkley Books and in 2008 by Ace Books ....
Writing career
Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in 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...
since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays and poetry and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
, Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
.
Earlier life
Jack Dann was born in New York State in 1945 and grew up in Johnson City, New YorkJohnson City, New York
Johnson City is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 15,535 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. His father was an attorney and a Judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town" and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a military academy
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
, which he choose against the alternative option of a reform school
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
, and where he remained for two years.
Subsequently he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in New York City. However in 1965 he contracted peritonitis after a poorly performed operation for appendicitis. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the Mafia who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.
Following discharge from hospital, he moved to Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
where he continued his studies. He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969-1971. He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years. His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.
He was introduced to genre fiction
Genre fiction
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....
and in particular science fiction from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski is a science fiction author and editor who has written and edited a number of books. He lives with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he has co-written a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.Zebrowski won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1999 for his novel Brute Orbits...
, Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent is an American, feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. She wrote a series concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometimes compared to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, but predates it...
, Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois
Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
, Jack Haldeman and Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
, two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
(then known as SUNY Binghamton).
Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine Worlds of If, with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
for Orbit, but this took almost two years to be published. Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of science fiction convention
Science fiction convention
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expression as movies and...
s and fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
, a culture he has been involved in ever since.
Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, Starhiker, was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece. While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant. He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.
He published his first book as editor, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction
Wandering Stars
Wandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
in 1974, and his first novel, Starhiker, in 1977.
Move to Australia
In 1994 he moved to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to join Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
, a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic and writer, whom he met at a conference in San Francisco and married in 1995. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.
He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea in the Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
region of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, but also typically spends some period of each year in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Work as an editor and anthologist
He was editor of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970-1972, and managing editor 1973-1975. He has been a consulting editor for Tor Books
Tor Books
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
since 1994.
Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.
His first published anthology was Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes. The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis. It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (1981). Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit, a collection of short fiction by Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson was an American writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche...
, a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award winning Jewish American writer of science fiction, fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.
In 1987 he published In the Field of Fire, co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards. The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy Dreaming Down-Under co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's Ditmar Award
Ditmar Award
The Ditmar Award has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction and science fiction fandom...
and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
. (Donald H. Tuck
Donald H. Tuck
Donald Henry Tuck was a bibliographer of science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction. His works were "among the most extensive produced since the pioneering work of Everett F...
's 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).
In August 2003 he published Gathering the Bones, as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
's "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian speculative fiction Dreaming Again, anthologies of Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.
"Magic Tales" Anthologies
Many of his anthologies have been editorial collaborations with Gardner Dozois. Of these, the most extensive series has been the "Magic Tales"Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series
Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois have jointly edited a series of themed science fiction and fantasy anthologies, published by Ace Books....
anthologies, initially published by Ace Books
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
and commencing with Unicorns! in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering around a number of fantasy and science fiction themes, such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.
Existing main articles for anthologies edited or co-edited by Jack Dann
- Beyond SingularityBeyond SingularityBeyond Singularity is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "beyond singularity" that were originally published from 1960 to 2004, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- Clones (anthology)
- Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games (anthology)Dangerous Games Dangerous Games Dangerous Games ((2007, ISBN 978-0441014903) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007, and includes stories on the theme of "dangerous games" that were originally published from 1958 to 2005...
- Escape from EarthEscape from EarthEscape from Earth: New Adventures in Space is an anthology of original science fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois that was published in 2005.-Contents:...
- Futures PastFutures PastFutures Past Futures Past Futures Past ((2006, ISBN 978-0441014545) is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2006, and includes stories on the theme of "futures past" that were originally published from 1956 to 2004...
- Hackers (anthology)
- Immortals (anthology)Immortals (anthology)Immortals is an 1998 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Learning to Be Me by Greg Egan*Grotto of the Dancing Deer by Clifford D. Simak*Child of All Ages by P. J. Plauger...
- Nanotech (anthology)
- Robots (anthology)Robots (anthology)Robots is a science fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2005, and includes stories on the theme of "robots" that were originally published from 1985 to 2003, though mostly from the last few years of that range...
- TimegatesTimegatesTimegates is an 1997 anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.- Contents :*Air Raid by John Varley*The Man Who Walked Home by James Tiptree, Jr.*Another Story by Ursula K...
- Wandering StarsWandering StarsWandering Stars is an anthology of Jewish fantasy and science fiction, edited by Jack Dann, originally published by Harper & Row in 1974. It represented, according to the book cover, "the first time in science fiction that the Jew - and the richness of his themes and particular points of view --...
- Wizards (anthology)Wizards (anthology)Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy short fiction edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was published in 2007 by Berkley Books and in 2008 by Ace Books ....
Writing career
Shorter works of fiction
Short stories, novelettes and novellas have comprised the vast majority of his fiction and over 100 of these, in multiple genres, have been published across his writing career. His short stories have appeared in OmniOmni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
and Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
and other major magazines and anthologies and have been collected in Timetipping (1980), the retrospective short story collection Jubilee: the Essential Jack Dann (2001), including an introduction and notes by Dann and Visitations (2003).
Major shorter works include: 'Junction', a novella, later expanded into a novel, published in Fantastic Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories 23 in November 1973; 'The Dybbuk Dolls', published in New Dimensions of Science Fiction Number 5 in 1975, a fantastic tale portraying Jews in a dystopian future United States; 'Camps', published in Fantasy and Science Fiction in May 1979, a story of a terminally ill young man who experiences another man's past in a concentration camp, part-based on Dann's own brush with death in his youth; 'Down among the Dead Men', published in Oui on 11 July 1982 and co written by Gardner Dozois, also focusing on a concentration camp - the story was awarded the Premios Gilgames de Narrativa Fantastica award; 'Bad Medicine', published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in October 1986, an except from his novel Counting Coup, substantially revised.
His novella 'Da Vinci Rising', using sections of novel The Memory Cathedral together with approximately 5,000 words of new writing won the Nebula Award in 1996 and short story 'Niagra Falling', co written by Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
was awarded the Aurealis Award in 1998.
Novels
His first four novels were science fiction or variants thereon. As from the Memory Cathedral (1995), further novels have been alternate history and/or magical realism. In keeping with a practice not uncommon among science fiction writers, his bibliography shows several of his novels having been preceded by the publication of shorter works of varying length, which are progenitors, partial serialisations or extracts from his eventual full length published books.Reading guides for Dann's novels The Memory Cathedral, The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean, The Silent, and Bad Medicine are available on the Dann's author page on the website of publisher HarperCollinsAustralia. Each guide includes reflections by the author on writing the book, questions for use with reading groups, and a list of books for further reading on the setting or related issues.
Starhiker (1977)
His first novel describes the cosmic voyage of Bo, a young man with an itinerant outlook, who is the inhabitant of a future Earth which has little importance in galactic affairs, and is under extraterrestrial occupation by the Hrau, principally for use as relay station for galactic spacecraft. Bo boards one of these craft and hence encounters a range of confronting and transcendent experiences, often with a dreamlike quality, before eventually returning to his home.Sections of Starhiker were serialized as two novellas in Amazing
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was 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...
from June-September 1976, prior to the publication of the full novel version. It was translated into German, and published as Welten-Vagabund in 1979.
Junction (1981)
The novel begins in a small town in the Midwestern United StatesMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, of a 19th Century character, which is separated from reality, apparently is then the only human settlement left on Earth, and now situated close to Hell. Protagonist Ned Wheeler leaves the town, undertakes a journey into hell and emerges in a 20th century New York where many have dreamt of him prior to his arrival.
Respected science fiction writer Philip K. Dick was greatly impressed with the novel, commenting: "Junction is where Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven and Tony Boucher's "The Quest for Saint Aquin" meet... and yet it is an entirely new novel ... I may very well be basing some of my future work on Junction."
A novella version of Junction was published in Fantastic
Fantastic
The Fantastic is a literary term that describes a quality of other literary genres, and, in some cases, is used as a genre in and of itself, although in this case it is often conflated with the Supernatural. The term was originated in the structuralist theory of critic Tzvetan Todorov in his work...
in November 1973. It was nominated for the 1974 Nebula Award and Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
. Dann reworked this tale for some years through a number of drafts, publishing a further section entitled 'Islands of Time' in Fantastic in September 1977. Finally the sections were combined with further material to form the full novel published in 1981. It was translated into German by Rainer Schmidt and published as Grenzland der Hölle in 1985.
The Man Who Melted (1984)
Robert SilverbergRobert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
provided an introduction to the Australian edition of this science fiction novel, with Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
elements. Set in the 21st Century, it presents a post-apocalyptic world, in which telepathic shock waves - an outbreak of collective fear from the unconscious of millions - have led to widespread destruction and the reduction of many human beings to inhuman "screamers." The protagonist, Raymond Mantle, searches through this shattered world for his wife, whose absence from his life he is aware of, but whose actual presence in his memories has been erased by the "Scream." The novel also imagines a future where unfamiliar forms of consciousness, introduced by the new telepathic reality created by the "Scream," have altered the nature of humanity and questionable moral practices have become common, including the commercial availability of suicide in scenarios such as a reenactment of the sinking of the Titanic and the option of gambling with one’s organs. It is notable for extrapolations such as a precocious vision of the Internet which may seem familiar to contemporary readers, but was not a reality at the time of publication.
The novel attracted significant praise within the science fiction genre and was appreciated by both followers of humanistic and cyberpunk traditions in that field. It was compared to Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal by the Washington Post, and it was described as among the greatest science fiction novels by Science Fiction Age.
It was translated into French by Bernard Sigaud and published as La Grande Hurle in 1987, and also translated into German and published as Der Schmelzende Mensch in 1989.
It was nominated for best novel
Nebula Award for Best Novel
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.- Winners and other nominees :...
in the 1985 Nebula Award, and Best Science Fiction Novel in the 1985 Locus Award. Revised extracts and shorter versions were published under various titles, including the novella "Amnesia" which was published in The Berkley Showcase, Vol. 3: New Writings in Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1981 and was nominated for Nebula Award for Best Novella
Nebula Award for Best Novella
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novella. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.-Winners and other nominees:-External links:**...
in 1982.
High Steel (1993) with Jack C. Haldeman, II
Set in a 22nd-century Earth overshadowed by mega-corporations, the novel follows John Stranger, a Native American who is forced from his reservation home by the Trans-United company to work in orbital space construction. Stranger’s shamanistic skills become prized by his employer to assist in a race against rival companies to decode an alien transmission containing blueprints for a faster-than-light space drive.The novel was an expanded version of the novelette Echoes of Thunder, which was published in a Tor Double Novel
Tor Double Novels
Tor Doubles are a series of science fiction books published by Tor Books between 1988 and 1991, mostly in tête-bêche format. The series was inspired by the Ace Doubles, published between 1952 and 1973.- Titles in the series :...
volume with Harlan Ellison's Run for the Stars in 1991. Dann is working on a sequel entitled Ghost Dance with author Barbara Delaplace
Barbara Delaplace
Barbara Delaplace is a Canadian science fiction writer.Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, she immigrated to Florida, U.S., when she married Jack C. Haldeman II. Delaplace won the Homer Award for best short story of 1992 for her "Black Ice", originally published in the theme anthology Aladdin:...
. Delaplace is the wife of Jack C. Haldeman, II, who passed away in 2002.
The Memory Cathedral (1995)
Dann's major historical novel depicts a version of the RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
in which Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
actually constructs a number of his inventions, such as a flying machine, whose designs are well-known from his surviving sketches. He later employs some of his military inventions
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
during a battle in the Middle East, while in the service of a Syrian general - events which Dann projects into a year of da Vinci's life about which little is known. The novel also presents a detailed imagining of the life and character of the inventor and painter during this period, and includes his encounters with other historical characters residing in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
including Machiavelli and Botticelli.
The title refers to an ancient system
Method of loci
The method of loci , also called the memory palace, is a mnemonic device introduced in ancient Roman rhetorical treatises . It relies on memorized spatial relationships to establish, order and recollect memorial content...
of memory recall, or Mnemonics, in which a building, such as a cathedral, is constructed in the mind as a container for imagined objects - which are deliberately connected to particular memories. The building can later be mentally navigated to re-encounter those objects and retrieve the memories with which they are associated. Da Vinci's memory cathedral functions in the narrative as a device through which he reviews his experiences as death approaches.
It was first published by Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
in December 1995 and has been published in ten languages to date. It won the Australian Aurealis Award
Aurealis Award
Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award.-History:...
in 1997, was #1 on The Age bestseller list, and in 1996, a novella based on the novel, "Da Vinci Rising," was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Novella. The Memory Cathedral was also shortlisted for the Audio Book of the Year, which was part of the 1998 Braille & Talking Book Library Awards.
The Silent (1998)
Dann’s second historical novel adopts a first person perspective, and is written in the form of a journal produced by Edmund “Mundy” McDowell, a teenager in 1862 during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, who writes as a form of therapy later in life - or possibly as a restless spirit. After his home is razed, and his mother raped and murdered by looters, he embarks upon a journey across wartime Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The trauma of his experiences has rendered him mute, hence the title of the piece. It also colours his journey - which depicts the battlefield horrors of the American Civil War and its impact graphically - with visions of ghosts, spirits and an omnipresent "spirit dog" with symbolic resonances of the essence of warfare.
Bad Medicine (2000)
- Variant Title: Counting Coup (2000)
This road trip novel relates the junvenile but revelatory antics of two men in their 60s, Charlie Sarris, an apartment supervisor and John Stone, a Native American medicine man
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
, who meets Charlie when he moves into his apartment block. Both characters are deeply flawed, lamenting their lost youth and first discover kinship in their copious consumption of alcohol. After Charlie discovers that his teenage daughter is pregnant, and can little cope with the parental responsibilities this implies, he accompanies John on a trip to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where John intends to confront his shamanistic rival, Whiteshirt. The journey is marked by indulgent, illegal and destructive behavior on the part of both men, apparently influenced by a curse placed upon John by Whiteshirt, which equally affects Charlie and leaves them acting ostensibly as caricatures of the worst aspects of their natures.
The novel was published several years after completion, after being delayed by the collapse of original publisher, Bluejay Books. A novelette version, a revised excerpt from the novel, was published by in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
8 in October 1984, and was shortlisted for Locus Award for Best Novelette, Nebula Award for Best Novelette
Nebula Award for Best Novelette
Winners of the Nebula Award for best Novelette. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed below.-External links:* * *...
and World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
for Best Short Story in 1985.
The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean (2004)
Following on from the secret historySecret history
A secret history is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars.-Secret histories of the real world:...
and alternate history approach used in The Memory Cathedral and The Silent, The Rebel supposes a version of the 1950s in which the actor James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
survived his infamous fatal car crash, and goes on to become a major star, film director and later Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. As with The Memory Cathedral, the novel includes encounters with a number of other iconic figures of the period, including Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, the Kennedy family and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
This novel is published by HarperCollins Flamingo in Australia and Morrow in the U.S. Locus wrote: "The Rebel is a significant and very gripping novel, a welcome addition to Jack Dann’s growing oeuvre of speculative historical novels, sustaining further his long-standing contemplation of the modalities of myth and memory. This is alternate history with passion and difference." A companion volume, Promised Land, appeared from PS Publishing
PS Publishing
PS Publishing is a Hornsea based publisher founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther. They specialise in novella length fiction from the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. It has quickly become established as one of Britain's premier small presses...
in 2007 and further explores, through short stories and novellas, both elements of the actual and alternative 1950s setting as presented in the novel.
The Economy of Light (2008)
Michael SwanwickMichael Swanwick
Michael Swanwick is an American science fiction author. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he began publishing in the early 1980s.-Biography:...
provided an introduction to this short horror novel about a retired Nazi hunter
Nazi hunter
A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...
, whose siblings were murdered by Nazi prison doctor, Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
. He is propelled into an arduous and confronting journey into the Amazon Jungle
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
, in search of a rumored miracle working physician. This is instigated by the discovery of the purported remains of the infamous doctor, and the apparent need to purge the effects of a spiritual ailment, which strikes him at Mengele’s graveside, and may be the source of diseases with which he has become afflicted.
It was nominated for a 2008 Aurealis Award in the category of Best Horror Novel.
Poetry
He has published poetry in collections, magazines, in the form of poetry postcards and a chapbookChapbook
A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
Christs and Other Poems (1978). The greater number of publications have been in The Anthology of Speculative Poetry and Rod Serling Presents The Twilight Zone Magazine.
Fiction collaborations
Since his initial collaborations with George Zebrowski, also forming his first published work, Jack Dann has undertaken joint fiction projects with a number of authors, including Susan Caspar, Gardner Dozois, Jack C. Haldeman IIJack C. Haldeman II
Jack Carroll "Jay" Haldeman II was an American biologist and science-fiction writer. He was the older brother of SF writer Joe Haldeman.- Biography :...
, Michael Swanwick and his wife, Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
. Dann and Webb's 1997 story, "Niagara Falling," won both the Aurealis Award and Ditmar Award for short fiction in 1998. Most collaborations have been in the short story form, and Dann published a collection of these in The Fiction Factory (2005). However, they have included novellas, and he has also written one novel with Jack C. Haldeman II, High Steel (1993). The majority of the book length publications with which he is associated are editorial collaborations.
Style
His stories are sometimes reminiscent in style to the work of Franz KafkaFranz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
or Jorge Luis Borges and can be complex and challenging to the reader, with a considerable sense of mystery. They have great variety and are typically highly unpredictable. They often have a surreal, dreamlike or hallucinatory quality, playing with different types of reality. They may blur the distinction between subjective and objective viewpoints, with shifting conceptual landscapes and there is often a sense of nothing quite being what it seems. The language and the images used often have a poetic quality but his choice of expression is typically precise and can equally have considerable humor or a sense of darkness.
Technique
He is known for his meticulous and extensive research of his subjects and their relevant setting, which has been a salient feature of his alternative history novels such as The Memory CathedralThe Memory Cathedral
The Memory Cathedral: A Secret History of Leonardo da Vinci is a 1995 historical fantasy fiction novel by Jack Dann. It follows Leonardo da Vinci constructing his flying machine and then travelling to the East.-Background:...
, The Rebel: an Imagined Life of James Dean and The Silent. In the case of The Rebel, novel, he read over 100 books relating to the 1950s setting. In keeping with the approach traditionally taken by scholars of history, he has expressed a preference for consulting primary source
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
s, wherever possible. He has also suggested that ‘writer’s block’ is not necessarily a negative experience, but an invitation from the subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
to conduct more research, either through study, or through gathering and processing further life experiences, thus refilling the subconscious pool of material to fuel further creative work.
He studied in Method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
in the 1960s, a technique which involves total immersion into a character's life, experiences, habits and outlook, and parallels this propensity for in depth research. He has made links between this training and his approach to developing his fictional characters. In the case of his novel Bad Medicine, which includes a character who is a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
medicine man, he spent a year with the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
People, and participated in traditional ceremonies.
He advocates the development of writing technique through rigorous writing workshops, where emerging writers are guided by established writers, which he feels is a fastrack to gaining a professional writing style. He attributes the emergence of a number of talented writers in the science fiction field to this process and also suggests that his own writing has been shaped by his participation these types of events, including the Milford Writer's Workshop
Milford Writer's Workshop
The Milford Writer's Workshop or more properly Milford Writers' Conference is an influential science fiction writer's event founded by Damon Knight among others in the mid-1950s in Milford, Pennsylvania...
. Since becoming an established writer, he has taught writing and run workshops on a regular basis.
Genre
He has written in multiple genres and has indicated that he enjoys and embraces the particular qualities and tropes of these genres, but does not see himself as confined to a particular genre when embarking on a writing project and may include aspects of a number of genres in a particular work. He views genres primarily as marketing categories, helping to guide readers towards fiction of interest to them and also useful in helping a writer to build up and sustain an audience for their work. His fiction typically challenges the divide between literary and speculative fiction and can show equal resonances of writers in both traditions.Themes
Charisma, memory, myth, witnessing the reality of The HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and transformation are all themes in Dann's work he has either identified himself or have been highlighted by reviewers and commentators. His stories often deal with achieving transcendent states, undertaking spiritual journeys or encountering confronting experiences that dramatically alter the psyche. Many involve young men who are liberated from naive origins by journeys marked by alien, revelatory or otherwise confrontational experiences which transform them, leaving them with a greater connection and awareness of their general environment or wider fields of consciousness. His first and second published novels, Starhiker and Junction and a significant number of his short stories are examples of this trend. He has linked this preoccupation with his experience of coming close to death as a young man, following his hospitalisation in 1965, which he claims had a similar transformational effect on his character.
Dann is also notable in the science fiction field for having written a number of stories with Jewish themes. Dann has a Jewish background, and although affirming an affinity with the cultural aspects of this, has distanced himself from the theological tenets of Judaism due to his atheist outlook.
Influences
Dann has acknowledged the influence of a range of writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García MárquezGabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, J.D. Salinger and J.G. Ballard. He has suggested particular influence from Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's memoir of his 'down and out' days in Paris in the early 1920s, A Moveable Feast
A Moveable Feast
A Moveable Feast is a set of memoirs by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years in Paris as part of the American expatriate circle of writers in the 1920s. The book describes Hemingway's apprenticeship as a young writer in Europe during the 1920s with his first wife, Hadley...
. Dann read this book during his convalescence from life threatening illness in 1965, a key character forming event in his personal history.
Contribution to Australian speculative fiction culture
Since his move to Australia, he has become a major influence and much respected figure in the speculative fiction field in Australia. He has frequently attended conventions, as guest of honour, speaker and panelist, and has played an active role in encouraging the development of the field, including running and contributing to seminars and workshops on writing, such as Clarion SouthClarion Workshop
Clarion is a six-week workshop for new and aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Knight and Wilhelm's Milford Writers' Conference, held at their home in Milford, Pennsylvania, USA, it was founded in 1968 by Robin Scott Wilson at Clarion State College in...
.
He has also raised the profile of Australian writers by publishing anthologies of their work. He co-editor (with Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is an Australian writer, critic, and editor working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy.-Biography:...
) of World Fantasy Award winning Australian anthology Dreaming Down-Under
Dreaming Down-Under
Dreaming Down-Under is a 1998 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb-Background:Dreaming Down-Under was first published in Australia in November 1998 by Voyager Books in trade paperback format....
, which Peter Goldsworthy
Peter Goldsworthy
Peter Goldsworthy AM is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti....
called "the biggest, boldest, most controversial collection of original fiction ever published in Australia." More recently, Dann edited Dreaming Again, a second anthology of Australian fantasy and speculative fiction, which was released in Australia in July 2008. The collection includes a number of stories produced by graduates of the Clarion South workshops and a mix of new and well known Australian writers.
A third volume, produced in editorial partnership with Jonathan Strahan
Jonathan Strahan
Jonathan Strahan is an editor and publisher of science fiction. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986....
, entitled Legends of Australian Fantasy was published in June 2010.
Awards
- He is a recipient of the Nebula Award
- 1997 for the novella "Da Vinci Rising"
- The Australian Aurealis Award
- 1996 for the novel The Memory Cathedral
- 1997 for the short story "Niagara Falling," with Janeen Webb
- The Ditmar Award
- 1997 for "Niagara Falling"
- 1999 for Dreaming Down-Under with Janeen Webb
- 2002 for "The Diamond Pit"
- The World Fantasy Award
- 1999 for Dreaming Down-Under with Janeen Webb
- The Premios Gilgamés de Narrativa Fantastica award
- 2008 - Dann was awarded the Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence in the 2008 Aurealis Awards
Dann has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). He has been shortlisted for major science fiction and fantasy awards on numerous occasions.
Reference works
As part of its Bibliographies of Modern Authors Series, The Borgo PressBorgo Press
The Borgo Press was a small publishing company founded by Robert Reginald in 1975 funded by the royalties gained from his first major reference work.The same year Borgo Press was founded, Robert Reginald met Mary Wickizer Rogers, a student at Cal State...
has published an annotated bibliography & guide entitled The Work of Jack Dann. An updated second edition is in progress. Dann is also listed in Contemporary Authors
Contemporary Authors
Contemporary Authors is an annually updated reference work published by Gale Cengage. It provides biographical details on over 120,000 writers in all genres whose works have been published in the English language...
and the Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series; The International Authors and Writers Who's Who; Personalities of America; Men of Achievement; Who's Who in Writers, Editors, and Poets, United States and Canada; Dictionary of International Biography; the Directory of Distinguished Americans; Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century; and Who's Who in the World.