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Roger Zelazny(English Roger Joseph Zelazny; in some Russian translations also Zelazny or Zilazny, born May 13, 1937, Euclid, Ohio, USA - d. June 14, 1995, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA) - American Writer.
Roger Joseph Zelazny was born on May 13, 1937 in Euclid (Ohio) in the family of Joseph Zelazny of Pole and Josephine Sweet Zelazny of Irish (Żelazny means "iron" in Polish). At the age of ten, Roger wrote fairy tales. In 1955 he graduated high school and entered the Department of Psychology at the Western Reserve University of Cleveland. He changed his specialty, moving to the Department of English Literature from the Faculty of Psychology. Two years later, he passed his bachelor's degree and moved to Columbia University (New York State). In 1962 he received a master's degree from Columbia University with a degree in Elizabethan and Jacobian drama.
During his studies, Zelazny was engaged in judo and martial arts, wrote and published poetry, wrote, but did not publish fantastic stories, learned to play chess, studied Hindi and Japanese, became interested in meditation and mysticism.
In late 1960, he joined the National Guard, served in Texas for six months. From 1963 to 1966 - was a reservist in the US Army. At one time he was a member of the combat crew of the Nika missiles, and last years service spent in the unit psychological warfare, from where he was honorably discharged into the reserve.
In 1962, Amazing Stories magazine published his first story, The Game of Passions. He received his first Hugo Prize for the story A Rose for Ecclesiastes (1963), and in 1965 he was fully successful - another Hugo Prize and two Nebula.
He married Sharon Steberl in 1964 and divorced in 1966. After the National Guard, he worked for the social security system. In 1965 he was transferred to the service in Baltimore, Maryland, while in 1967-68 he was the secretary-treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers Association. In Baltimore, he met Judith Alene Callahan, whom he married on August 20, 1966, and who bore him three children - sons Devin (1971) and Jonathan Trent (1976), as well as daughter Shannon (1979).
In 1968, on the advice of Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny gets himself a literary agent. 1969 - resigns from public service and becomes a professional writer. In 1975, he decides to move with his family from Baltimore to Santa Fe (New Mexico). It is known that Zelazny divorced his wife before his death and lived for some time with Jane Lindsold, with whom he wrote several novels.
In Santa Fe, Roger Zelazny wrote most of his books, received a black belt in aikido, raised his children and worked as a "reader" fantasy stories on the radio.
On the account of R. Zelazny there are about 20 novels and four collections of stories. He received the Hugo Award six times, Nebula three times, the French Apollo Award once, and was awarded the Locus magazine prize for the Chronicle of Amber. He has written several works in collaboration with Philip Dick, Fred Saberhagen, Thomas T. Thomas and Robert Sheckley.
Died June 14, 1995 at the St. Vicente Hospital in Santa Fe from kidney failure caused by colon cancer.
Roger Zelazny is great writer, whose name is probably well known to all fans of science fiction. Having become a real classic during his lifetime, this outstanding author published a huge number of books, each of which was bright and remarkable in its own way. But what made the work of this talented American-Polish writer so interesting? How was it born unique style his works? And where did Roger get his stories from? We will try to tell our readers about all this further.Early years, Roger Zelazny's family
Roger Zelazny was born in the spring of 1937 in the small town of Euclid, Ohio. His father, Jozef Zelazny, was an emigrant from Poland, and his mother, Josephine Sweet, was an ethnic Irish. Perhaps it was this symbiosis of bloods that predetermined the unique and unlikely writing style of our today's hero. It is worth noting that Roger began to write his first works (mostly small fairy tales) as a child. At the age of ten, he was already composing adventure stories, and with them he began to weave the lace of his own fictional world.In 1955, Roger graduated from high school and, having received a diploma, applied to the University of Cleveland Western Reserve, where he began to study psychology. A similar experience subsequently helped the writer in creating the images of his heroes, however, in fairness, it is worth saying that Roger did not study at this faculty for long. Two years later, our today's hero realized that he initially made the wrong choice, and without hesitation, he transferred to another faculty - the faculty of English literature. In this place, he studied for a couple of years, and then, having received a bachelor's degree, he moved to Columbia State University of New York. In 1962, he successfully graduated from this university and received a master's degree in "Drama of the Elizabethan and Jacobian eras."
Over the years, the future great writer became a real expert in the field of English and American literature... However, this hobby was not the only one in his life. Even in his student days, he was actively fond of philology and sports. So, he strenuously studied Japanese language and Hindi, and also practiced chess and judo. During this period, he also became quite interested in mysticism and meditation practices. Reflection of such oriental currents can be seen in some of the author's stories written during that period.
Concerning the theme of literary creativity, we note that it was during this period that the future great writer published his first collections of poetry. Science fiction novels written during this period were published somewhat later.
Roger Zelazny's literary career
At the end of 1960, our today's hero joined the US National Guard, in which he served for six months. From 1963 to 1966, he was a reservist in the American army, and also served in the psychological warfare unit.It was during his service that Roger Zelazny first began to write and publish his stories. For example, in 1962, the Amazing Stories magazine published the novella A Game of Passions, and a year later, the novella Rose for Ecclesiastes. It is worth noting that the second of these works has become especially successful. For this literary work our today's hero received the prestigious Hugo Prize and two Newble statuettes at once.
Parallel to this, Roger Zelazny worked as a social insurance agent, and then as a secretary and treasurer at the Science Fiction Writers Association. The writer resigned from this organization in 1968. By this time, the writer had already written several new books and a huge number of short stories, many of which were published under the pseudonym Harrison Denmark.
In 1968, following the advice of his friend the writer Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny got himself a literary agent and, after retiring from public service, began working as a professional writer. Some time later, our today's hero moved with his wife and children to the city of Santa Fe (New Mexico), where he continued to study literary creativity... It is known for certain that it was here that the writer wrote most of his works.
In parallel with his work as a science fiction writer, Roger Zelazny also worked as a "reader" on the radio, which was quite prestigious in the seventies and eighties. In addition, he was also actively involved in martial arts and even managed to get a black belt in aikido.
In total, during his short life, the American-Polish writer managed to have a hand in the creation of more than twenty novels, as well as four official collections of stories. Most of of his works was written by him solo, but some of Roger Zelazny's books were also created in collaboration with others famous writers... Thus, his works became known, written jointly with Robert Sheckley, Philip Dick, Thomas T. Thomas and some other prominent authors.
For their literary works our hero today has received the prestigious Hugo Prize six times, and also three times became the Newble Prize laureate. In addition, in the personal collection of awards of the outstanding American-Polish author, there is also the French Apollo award, the literary magazine Locus and some other prizes.
How Roger Zelazny died, cause of death
Point in long history the writer's life was staged by his death. In June 1995, at the fifty-eighth year of his life, Roger Zelazny died in one of the hospitals in the sunny city of Santa Fe, which was his home in the last years of his life. The reason for the death of the writer was renal failure caused by previously diagnosed colorectal cancer. In accordance with the will of the writer, his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered over the mountains in the suburbs of Santa Fe. 
Roger Zelazny's personal life
To complete this story best of all on a pleasant note, and therefore, in conclusion, let us, by tradition, turn to the writer's personal life. It is known that in his life Roger Zelazny was happy with three different women... In 1964, he married a girl named Sharon Steeberl, but two years later, the couple filed for divorce. In August of the same year, the writer was married for the second time. New wife the author was a woman named Judy Callahan, who later gave birth to Roger Zelazny three children - Devin (born 1971) and Jonathan (born 1976) and daughter Shannon (born 1979).Shortly before his death, the American writer divorced his wife and spent his last years with the writer Jane Lindskold, with whom he wrote several works.
Biography
Country: USA
Born: 1937−05−13
Died: 1995-06-14
Aliases:
Harrison Denmark
Roger Zelazny was born on May 13, 1937 in a large industrial center of the United States - Cleveland (Ohio) in the family of a Pole Joseph Zelazny and an Irish woman Josephine Sweet Zelazny. At the age of ten, Roger wrote fairy tales. He graduated from high school in 1955 and entered the Department of Psychology at Cleveland Western University. He changed his specialty, moving to the Department of English Literature from the Faculty of Psychology. Two years later, he passed his bachelor's degree and moved to Columbia University (New York State). A year later (1962) Roger Zelazny returned to Cleveland and defended his dissertation on the English drama of Elizabethan times.
During his studies, Roger Zelazny was engaged in judo and martial arts, wrote and published poetry, wrote, but did not publish fantastic stories, learned to play chess, studied Hindi and Japanese, became interested in meditation and mysticism. Roger Zelazny Subsequently, all this can be found in the books of Roger Zelazny. In late 1960, Zelazny joined the National Guard and served in Texas for six months. From 1963 to 1966 he was a reservist in the US Army. At one time he was a member of the combat crew of Nika's missiles, and in the last years of his service he spent in the psychological warfare unit, from where he was honorably discharged into the reserve.
In 1962, Amazing Stories magazine published Roger Zelazny's first story, The Game of Passions. In the first seven years since the beginning of its writing Roger Zelazny has received two Hugo awards and two Nebula awards. In 1964 he married Sharon Steeberl (after both of them got into serious car accident) and divorced in 1966. After the National Guard, Zelazny worked in the social insurance system. In 1965, he was transferred to Baltimore, Maryland, while serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers Association between 1967 and 1968. In Baltimore, he met Judy Callahan, whom he married on 20 August 1966.
In 1969 Roger Zelazny left his main job and started writing books entirely. Some of the books Roger Zelazny published under the pseudonym Harrison Denmark. In 1971, Roger had a son, Devin. Roger Zelazny In 1975, the writer and his family moved to Santa Fe - the capital of the sultry state of New Mexico. In 1976 his second son, Jonathan Trent, was born. After that, his daughter Shannon was born in 1979. It is known that Roger Zelazny divorced his wife before his death and lived for some time with Jane Lindsold, with whom he wrote several novels.
In total, more than 150 stories and 50 books by Roger Zelazny have been published. According to many, the best books by Roger Zelazny are The Night in Dreary October, The Prince of Light and the Chronicle of Amber series.
Roger Zelazny - leader of the movement New wave in science fiction, when science fiction writers transferred attention from robots and spaceships to man and his inner world... For his books, he has received 6 Hugo Awards, 3 Nebula Awards and several other awards.
Roger Zelazny died of kidney failure caused by colon cancer on June 14, 1995 at St. Vicente Hospital.
Roger Zelazny - Hugo Award 1966, 1968, 1976, 1982, 1986 and 1987, 1965 and 1975 Nebula Award, 1984 and 1986 Locus Poll Award, 1972 Apollo Award, 1980 and 1984 Balrog Award.
Roger Zelazny was born in Cleveland (Ohio) 05/13/1937 in the family of a Pole and Irish.
In 1955, after graduating from high school, he entered the Department of Psychology at Cleveland Western University, but soon changed his specialty and moved to the Faculty of English Literature. After 2 years he received a bachelor's degree and entered Columbia University, but in 1962 he returned to Cleveland and defended his dissertation.
At the age of 10, Zelazny began to write fairy tales, and during his studies he tried himself in fantastic stories, wrote and published poetry. In addition, the young man was engaged in martial arts and judo, was fond of chess and meditation, studied Japanese and Hindi. All this has echoes in his work.
In 1960, Zelazny enlisted in the National Guard, and in 1963-1966. was a reservist in the army of the United States of America.
Roger Zelazny's first story, The Game of Passions, was published in 1962 by Amazing Stories. And soon the writer already becomes a laureate of 4 awards - two Hugos and two Nebula.
Zelazny's family life did not work out - in 1964 he married Sharon Stiberl, but in 1966 he divorced.
In 1965 Roger Zelazny, working in the field of social insurance, on duty moved to Baltimore, where during 1967-1968. also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers Association. There he meets his second wife, Judy Callahan, who bore him two children - a son, Devin and a daughter, Shannon.
Since 1969, Zelazny has only been writing books, several of which are published under the pseudonym Harrison Denmark.
In 1975, together with his family, the writer moved to Santa Fe, where he lives until his death.
Shortly before his death, Roger Zelazny divorced his wife and began living with Jane Lindsold, who helped him write several novels.
The literary heritage of the writer consists of 50 books and 150 stories. The best are named - Prince of Light, Night in dreary October, Amber Chronicle series. He has received many awards, including 3 Nebula awards, 6 Hugo awards, and others.
Roger Joseph Zelazny(eng. Roger joseph zelazny; May 13, 1937, Euclid, Ohio, USA - June 14, 1995, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA) is an American science fiction writer.
Roger Zelazny was born on May 13, 1937 in the city of Euclid (Ohio) in the family of the Pole Jozef Zelazny ( Żelazny in Polish means "iron") and Irish Josephine Sweet Zelazny. At the age of ten, Roger wrote fairy tales. He graduated from high school in 1955 and entered the Department of Psychology at the Western Reserve University of Cleveland. He changed his specialty, moving to the Department of English Literature from the Faculty of Psychology. Two years later, he passed his bachelor's degree and moved to Columbia University (New York State). In 1962, he received a master's degree from Columbia University with a degree in Elizabethan and Jacobian drama.
During his studies, Zelazny was engaged in judo and martial arts, wrote and published poetry, wrote, but did not publish fantastic stories, learned to play chess, studied Hindi and Japanese, became interested in meditation and mysticism.
In late 1960, he joined the National Guard, served in Texas for six months. From 1963 to 1966 he was a reservist in the US Army. At one time he was part of the combat crew of the Nika missiles (eng. Nike), and spent the last years of his service in the psychological warfare unit, from where he was honorably discharged into the reserve.
In 1962, Amazing Stories magazine published his first story, The Game of Passions. He received his first nomination for the Hugo Prize for the story A Rose for Ecclesiastes (1963), and in 1965 he was fully successful - one Hugo Prize and two Nebula.
In 1964 he married Sharon Steeberl (eng. Sharon steberl) and divorced in 1966. After the National Guard, he worked for the social security system. In 1965, he was transferred to serve in Baltimore, Maryland, while also serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers Association from 1967-1968. In Baltimore, he met Judy Callahan (eng. Judith alene callahan), whom he married on August 20, 1966, and who bore him three children - sons Devin (1971) and Jonathan Trent (1976), as well as daughter Shannon (1979).
In 1968, on the advice of Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny gets himself a literary agent. In 1969 he retired from public service and became a professional writer. In 1975, he decides to move with his family from Baltimore to Santa Fe (New Mexico). It is known that Zelazny divorced his wife before his death and lived for some time with Jane Lindsold, with whom he wrote several novels.
In Santa Fe, Roger Zelazny wrote most of his books, earned a black belt in aikido, raised his children and worked as a "reader" of science fiction stories on radio.
On the account of R. Zelazny there are about 20 novels and four collections of stories. He received the Hugo Award six times, Nebula three times, the French Apollo Award once, and was awarded the Locus magazine prize for the Chronicle of Amber. He has written several works in collaboration with Philip Dick, Fred Saberhagen, Thomas T. Thomas and Robert Sheckley.
Died June 14, 1995 at the St. Vicente Hospital in Santa Fe from renal failure caused by colorectal cancer. The body of the writer was cremated, and the ashes, according to his will, were scattered over the mountains near Santa Fe.
Bibliography
The Chronicles of Amber
The Chronicles of Amber consists of two series of five novels each and several stories.
The first five books recount the adventures of Prince Corvinus, Prince of Amber:
- Nine Princes of Amber (1970)
- Shotguns of Avalon (1972)
- Unicorn sign (1975)
- Oberon's Hand (1976)
- Realm of Chaos (1978)
In the next five books of the second series, the main character is Corwin's son, Merlin (Merle Corey), a magician and software engineer:
- Destiny Cards(1985). Winner of the Locus Prize in 1986.
- Amber's blood(1986). Locus Award nominee in 1987.
- Chaos Sign(1987). Locus Award nominee in 1988.
- Knight of Shadows (1989)
- Prince of Chaos (1991)
Zelazny also wrote several stories related to the Amber universe:
- Prologue to "Cards of Destiny"(eng. Prolog to Trumps of Doom) (1985)
- Trader's story(eng. The Salesman "s Tale) (1994)
- Veiled and Giselle(eng. The shroudling and The Guisel) (1994)
- Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains(eng. Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains) (1995)
- By the way about the lace(eng. Coming to a Cord) (1995)
- Mirrored corridor(eng. Hall of mirrors) (1996)
Novels, stories, stories
- This immortal(1966). Winner of the Hugo Prize in 1966.
- Dream Master (1966)
- Prince of Light(1967). Nebula Prize nominee in 1967, winner of the Hugo Prize in 1968.
- Creatures of light, Creatures of darkness (1969)
- cycle about Frank Sandau (1969-1973). Beyond the story "Light of the Gloomy"(or "Light of Sorrow") (eng. Dismal Light) the cycle includes two novels:
- Dead island(1969). Nominee for the 1969 Nebula Prize.
- Die in Italbar (1973)
- Valley of Curses(1969). The novel was filmed in 1977 under the same name.
- Jack of the Shadow(1971). Nominated for the Locus and Hugo Awards in 1972.
- Today we choose faces (1973)
- Doors in the sand(1976). Nominated for the Nebula (1975) and Hugo (1976) awards.
- Ash bridge (1976)
- Road signs(1979). Another translation of the title « Road signs» .
- cycle about the "magic-possessed" sorcerer Paul Detson (1980-1981):
- Substituted(1980). 1981 Locus Award nominee.
- Obsessed with magic(1981). Another translation of the title "Obsessed with magic".
- Enchanted land(1981). 1982 Locus Award nominee.
- Cat eye (1982)
- Dark journey (1987)
- Dragons come here
- There in the sky(1992). It was written in 1968-1969, published only in 1992.
- Night in dreary October(1993). Other translations of the name - "Dreary October Night", "Night in Lonely October". The last novel Roger Zelazny. Nominated for the 1994 Nebula Prize.
- Dead man's brother(eng. The dead Man "s Brother) (2009). Another translation of the name is "Rest in peace"... It was found in the archives after the death of the writer and published in 2009. The book was written in 1970-1971.
- King Solomon's ring(with Gerald Hausman) (1963)
- Lord of Wrath(with Philip Dick) (1976)
- Coils(with Fred Saberhagen) (1980)
- Black throne(with Fred Saberhagen) (1990)
- Loki's mask(with Thomas T. Thomas) (1990)
- The story of the red-haired demon(with Robert Sheckley)
- Bring me the head of Prince Charming (1991)
- Kohl with Faust you are out of luck(1993). Another translation "If you cannot succeed in the role of Faust".
- Theater of one demon (1995)
- Flash(with Thomas T. Thomas) (1992)
- After the victory(eng. Forever after) (1995) (co-authors Robert Asprin, David Allen Drake, Michael A. Stackpole, Jane Lindskold)
- Psycho shop(with Alfred Bester) (1998)
Two books were started by Roger Zelazny and completed by his companion and writer Jane Lindskold after Zelazny's death:
- Donnerjack (1997)
- Demon Lord (1999)
In addition, Jane Lindskold completed the script for computer game "Chronomaster"(eng. "Chronomaster").
Also, John Gregory Betancourt wrote a prequel based on Roger Zelazny's drafts:
- "Dawn of Amber" - The dawn of amber (2002)
- "Chaos and Amber" - Chaos and Amber (2003)
- "Rule Amber!" - To Rule in Amber (2004)
- "Shadows of Amber" - Shadows of amber(2005) - translated by the amateur community on the internet
- "Sword of Chaos" - Sword of Chaos(unpublished)
I don't want my work to be tailored to fit one particular genre.
Roger Zelazny
In the first half of the 1990s, a stream of translated fiction poured into the Russian expanses. And fantasy, which was almost unfamiliar to us, was especially popular. Among the books that have appeared, a special impression on Russian neophytes was made by the cycle "The Chronicles of Amber", strikingly different from the stories of Tolkien and Howard already known in our country. Yes, and the name of the author caressed the ear with its uniqueness - Roger Zelazny. It smelled like something familiar, Slavic ...
Carefully prepared start
Americans are a nation of immigrants from all over the world. Moreover, people who come to the States, for the most part, quickly mix with representatives of other nations. And when the Pole Jozef Frank Zelazny met in Chicago with the pretty American-Irish Josephine Flora Sweet, he didn’t take too long to start a family. The fruit of the Polish-Irish union was the 100% American Roger Joseph Christopher Zelazny, who was born on May 13, 1937 in the small town of Euclid, located near Cleveland, the industrial center of Ohio.
Roger's mother, like a true Irish woman, adored mythology and with early childhood literally fed her only offspring with a variety of fairy tales and legends. Roger learned to read very early, and, being still quite a kid, indulged in wild fantasies about the books he had read and their heroes.
I was about six years old. Reading the stories, I thought that I would have treated the characters differently. One day it dawned on me: "Oh, I can do it."
Roger Zelazny
At first young talent scribbled its fairy tales on everything that came to hand, until the father gave the child a typewriter for the eleventh birthday. Roger switched to science fiction stories, for around the same time he became interested in science fiction. Moreover, the boy turned out to be surprisingly circumspect and meticulous for his age. Having decided that he did not have enough knowledge for professional creativity, Roger thoroughly sat down to theory, studying literary devices... This approach bore fruit - already during his studies, the boy became an editor. school newspaper and a member of the local writing club. However, the ambitious teenager did not want to be one of the many literary artisans at all - he dreamed of fame and money. Therefore, after the first failure (Roger sent the story, written in imitation of "The Martian Chronicles" by Bradbury, to John Campbell himself, but there was no answer), the teenager decided to wait a few years. So to speak, to pick up life experience and knowledge, and only then storm the literary heights.
Zelazny often published poetry and prose in school magazines, twice (in 1957 and 1959) became the winner of the Finley Foster Poetry Prize. In 1955, after college, Roger entered the Department of Psychology at Cleveland Western University, but rather quickly moved to the Faculty of English Literature, where he acquired a bachelor's degree. By the end of 1960, he served six months in the National Guard, mostly in Texas. After leaving for New York, Roger took up his studies again, receiving a master's degree from Columbia University in 1962, where he defended his dissertation on the English drama of the period of Elizabeth I and James I. And everywhere Zelazny accumulated the same life experience, without which he considered studying literature a senseless undertaking: he was engaged in fencing, martial arts and Zen, wrote poetry, played chess, studied Hindi and Japanese. And he wrote a lot ...
Roger managed to sell his stories to various science fiction magazines a couple of times - for the first time in Amazing Stories in 1962 (Game of Passions, $ 20 fee). But creativity could not feed him, so Zelazny began working in the federal welfare office - first in Cleveland, then Baltimore, while writing fiction.
I promised myself that at first I would not aim at something big. I had too much to learn. The first few years I was going to devote to creating small pieces. Firstly, they are easier to write, and secondly, you can learn a lot of literary tricks from them.
Roger Zelazny
In 1964, Zelazny experienced a double shock: first, his father died suddenly, and then Roger almost died in a serious accident. But thanks to the disaster, Roger met Sharon Steeberl, whom he soon married. True, this marriage cannot be called successful - less than two years have passed since they parted. Just a couple of months after the divorce, already in Baltimore, Roger met Judith Ellen Callahan - the affair very quickly ended in a wedding. Perhaps, Zelazny approached writing much more prudently than the choice of life companions.
Zelazny remained a civil servant for three more years, from May 1, 1969, fully devoting himself to literature. By that time, he was already considered the most prominent representative American sf. Moreover, Zelazny planned the invasion of science fiction as a military strategist and achieved success everywhere. Already in 1964, the story "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" was nominated for "Hugo". And in 1966 Zelazny received two "Nebula" at once for the story and "Hugo" for the novel "This immortal". The novels "The Creator of Dreams", "The Isle of the Dead", "The Prince of Light" found considerable resonance. So, in just a few years, Zelazny has become a symbol of the American "new wave".
Sign of the Unicorn (1975)
The Hand of Oberon (1976)
The Courts of Chaos (1978)
Destiny Cards (Trumps of Doom, 1985)
Blood of Amber (1986)
Sign of Chaos (1987)
Knight of Shadows (1989)
Prince of Chaos (1991)
Plus 5 stories and a travel guide to the world.
The Chronicles of Dilwish:
Dilvish, the Damned (1982)
The Changing land (1981)
Frank Sandau:
Isle of the Dead the death, 1969)
To Die in Italbar (1973)
World of magic:
Changeling (1980)
Obsessed with Magic (MadWand, 1981)
Red demon(with Robert Sheckley):
Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (1991)
"If in the role of Faust you will not succeed" (If at Faust You don "t Successed, 1993)
One Demon's Theater (A Farce to Be Reckoned With, 1995)
New Horizons
To feed off literary activity, I had to write more novels- it is desirable to compose some well-selling cycle. However, when Zelazny began working on the novel "The Nine Princes of Amber", he did not expect to open a series for them at all - the maximum dilogy was conceived.
I thought it would be one book, well, at most one more sequel a little later. I never imagined that the idea would grow so big.
Roger Zelazny
The novel was published in 1970, two years later, Zelazny released the second volume of Amber's "Shotgun of Avalon". The story of a violent family of "amber" aristocrats fell in love with readers so much that Zelazny was literally forced to continue it. True, in those years, Roger himself did not strive for streaming creativity, preferring to vary genres, directions and ideas. 1970s - the time of its rapid heyday writing career when bright, mostly non-standard works appeared in print year after year. For the story "The Return of the Executioner" (1976) Zelazny gets a double of the most prestigious science fiction awards "Hugo" and "Nebula", and the American Library Association calls "Doors in the Sand" the best book of the year for teens. In 1977, the first film adaptation appeared - the film "Valley of Damnation" (however, not very successful). And at the end of this turbulent decade, the final book of the Amber Chronicles was published.
Suddenly, it was the Amber series that turned into business card Roger Zelazny - and he just did not plan it! In America, the Chronicles of Amber were reissued in the form of pockets every year, recruiting more and more new fans under their banners. The cycle spawned many clubs role-playing games, amateur magazines and fanfic series appeared, and not only in the States.
Grabbing luck by the tail, Zelazny was not at all going to miss the chance. He founded a small corporation Amber and began to scribble the second pentalogy "Chronicle" - this time quite consciously composing the series. Its main character was Prince Merlin, son of Corwin, the protagonist of the first five books. The Chronicles of Merlin are significantly inferior to the previous Amber novels. However, Zelazny's skill did not go anywhere - his energetically written books were sold out in the air. Moreover, "Amber" has already acquired a cult status - in this case, commercial success becomes an indispensable factor.
However, the language will not turn to blame Zelazny for the commercialization of creativity. In the end, he had to feed his family, because the 1970s were successful not only in the field of creativity - Roger became a father three times. Since 1975, the Zelazny family moved to Santa Fe (New Mexico), because the writer wanted to have a house in the mountains.
The only thing I'm missing here is water. I came to the conclusion that you need either mountains or water to be happy. And there are mountains in Santa Fe, and they are very beautiful.
Roger Zelazny
| Selected novels by Roger Zelazny |
This Immortal (1965) The Dream Master (1966) "Prince of Light" (Lord of Light, 1967) Damnation Alley (1969) Creatures of Light and Darkness (1969) Jack of Shadows (1971) Today We Choose Faces (1973) Doorways in the Sand (1976) Bridge of Ashes (1976) "The Lord of Wrath" (Deus Irae, 1976), with F. Dick Roadmarks (1979) "Coils" (Coils, 1980), col. with F. Saberhagen Eye of Cat (1982) "The Black Throne" (1990), col. with F.Saberhagen "The Mask of Loki" (The Mask of Loki, 1990), col. with T.T. Thomas "Flash" (Flare, 1992), col. with T.T. Thomas A Night in the Lonesome October, 1993 Wild Lands (Wilderness, 1994), col. with J. Hausman "Chronomaster" (Chronomaster, 1996), col. with D. Lindskold Donnerjack (1997), col. with D. Lindskold "Psycho-shop" (Psychoshop, 1998), col. with A. Bester Lord Demon (1999), col. with D. Lindskold |
Last frontiers
"The Chronicles of Amber" sold superbly all over the world - this is how Zelazny acquired financial independence... Therefore, in the second half of the 1980s, he significantly moderated his creative ardor. Yes, and many old fans have somewhat cooled off to him - this often happens in relation to commercially successful authors. However, several works small form were awarded prestigious prizes - the story "Twenty-four views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai" (1986) and the story "Permafrost" (1987) received "Hugo".
Zelazny took up poetry again, publishing several collections. Together with the artist Gray Morrow, he published an illustrated book - Zelazny invented, and Morrow embodied his fantasies. In the 1990s, Roger discovered another talent in himself - an art reader. His solo performances - both on his own books and on the works of other authors - were invariably popular with the audience.
Several times Zelazny took up joint novels... Back in 1976, The Lord of Wrath came out, co-written with Philip Dick. Then there were "Twists" (1982) and "Black Throne" (1990), composed with an old friend, Fred Saberhagen. In two novels with Thomas T. Thomas and the "demonic" trilogy with Robert Sheckley, Zelazny only offered plots and ideas that his co-authors embodied on paper. As for solo creativity, then best book his late period- this is, perhaps, the postmodern ironic fantasy "A Night in Dreary October" (1993), which Zelazny wrote when he was already sick.
For a number of reasons, Roger was not particularly interested in creativity at this time. In the late 1980s, he met an aspiring writer Jane Lindskold, who was an ardent fan of his books.
I don't usually reply to fan mail, but she was an exception. Correspondence ensued. After a while, we became friends. Jane taught at a college in Virginia and was about to write my biography.
Roger Zelazny
They first met for the first time in 1989, in New York. After 4 years, the eminent writer divorced his wife and went to Jane Lindsold. Looks like he was happy with her. But this did not last long.
Zelazny had stomach cancer, he had known about his illness for a long time, he underwent chemotherapy, thanks to which, it seemed, the disease was gradually receding. However, on June 13, 1995, he suffered an acute attack of renal failure. An urgent hospitalization followed, but nothing helped. A day later, June 14, at the St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, at the age of 58, Roger Zelazny died. Before last minute faithful Jane was next to him, younger son Trent and a few friends from the local science fiction club. After cremation, the writer's ashes were scattered over the mountains that he loved so much.
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Perhaps not without reason the most popular piece Zelazny became the Chronicle of the Amber Kingdom, in which the principle “ sugar glaze»Implemented in the most complete way. Sharp adventurous plot - time. There are two vivid characters of the heroes. Diverse unusual reality with well-thought-out laws and rules - three. Philosophical, mythological and esoteric symbols pulled from everywhere, creating the illusion of the text's meaningfulness - four. Figurative language full of reminiscences and puns - five. An ironic manner of presentation - six. And the final advantage is the rare ability to combine all layers of your work into a single whole. Something similar was done much later by the Wachowski brothers in the "matrix" trilogy, combining crazy action, a cyberpunk candy wrapper and a sea of meaningful conversations into a self-sufficient product that can be interpreted in different ways. Thoughtful philosophical saga or purely commercial action movie? Everyone decides for himself ... So, for me, there are stories of heroes, stories of ideas and stories of images.This refers to the way they penetrate my universe. The finished work in the very best case must contain all three elements. Although two are enough. Roger Zelazny * * *Roger Zelazny managed to strike a reasonable balance between entertainment, cognition and instructiveness surprisingly accurately. His books are elegant, smart, interesting to read, at times they make you puzzle ... What else is needed for happiness? |