Barry N. Malzberg
Barry N. Malzberg | |
---|---|
Born | Barry Nathaniel Malzberg July 24, 1939 New York City, U.S. |
Pen name | Nathan Herbert, K. M. O'Donnell |
Occupation | Novelist |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Syracuse University |
Genre | Recursive science fiction |
Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.
Biography
Malzberg originated from a
Malzberg initially sought to establish himself as a playwright as well as a prose-fiction writer. In 1964, he returned to Syracuse University for graduate study in creative writing. Although he was awarded a Schubert Foundation Playwriting Fellowship (1964-1965) and the Cornelia Ward Creative Writing Fellowship (1965), he was unable to sell his work to any of the literary magazines of the era.[1] Resolving not to be an "unpublished assistant professor of English,"[2] he left the program in 1965 to pursue a career as a freelance writer and agent for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency. Malzberg would intermittently continue with SMLA through the next several decades, being one of its last caretakers.
His first published story was "The Bed" under the pseudonym "Nathan Herbert" in the men's magazine Wildcat.
He had been writing erotic novels using the pseudonym "Mel Johnson" but began writing erotic novels under his own name in 1968 for Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press.[4] Many of his science short stories and novels in the late 1960s were published under the pseudonym "K. M. O'Donnell", derived from the surnames of Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, and their joint pseudonym "Lawrence O'Donnell."[5]
He was an editor at Escapade, a men's magazine, in early 1968. In the latter half of 1968 he edited Amazing Stories and Fantastic science fiction and fantasy-fiction magazines.[6] He was the editor of the Science Fiction Writers of America Bulletin in 1969 until he was asked to resign because of a critical editorial he wrote about the NASA space program.[7]
Malzberg's writing style is distinctive, frequently employing long, elaborate sentences with few commas. Most of his science fiction books are short, present-tense narratives concerned exclusively with the consciousness of a single obsessive character. His themes, particularly in the novels
He has edited anthologies such as Final Stage (with Edward L. Ferman), also several in collaboration with Bill Pronzini and others. In interviews and memoirs he details how many of his novels have been written within weeks or even days: for example, at the beginning of 1973 he was commissioned to write the series of novels "The Lone Wolf", ten of which he completed by October 1973.[8] Aside from fantastic fiction, he has been a prolific writer of crime fiction and other genres, under his own name, as O'Donnell, and as Mike Barry and under other pseudonyms. He has also often written in collaboration with Pronzini, Kathe Koja, and others. He wrote the novelization of the Saul Bass-directed 1974 film Phase IV. At the end of 1975 he made numerous public statements that he was retiring from science fiction [9]
A devotee of classical music, he is also a violinist, and performed in the premiere performance of work by
Malzberg's work has been widely praised by critics, while being attacked by proponents of
For years, Malzberg has collaborated with friend and fellow science fiction writer
Malzberg was a regular contributor to the
He has been a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, for many years.[12]
Bibliography
References
- ^ Charles Platt. 'Barry Malzberg' in The Dream Makers. Berkley, 1980. pp77-86.
- ISBN 9780810846708.
- ^ Debut Science Fiction and Fantasy
- ^ Barry Malzberg, 'Repentance, Desire, and Natalie Wood', eI22 -- October 2005
- ^ Barry Malzberg's entry at the Science Fiction Encyclopedia
- ^ Barry Malzberg. 'In The Hall of the Mountain King', Amazing Stories, 4 February 2013
- ^ Barry Malzberg,'Is the Most Speculative Form of Fiction Afraid to Gamble Anymore . . . ?', Amazing, Stories, July 1981
- ^ Barry Malzberg. 'Some Notes on the Lone Wolf', Breakfast in the Ruins, Baen Books, 2007. Pp296-298
- ^ collected in Barry Malzberg, '…And a Chaser', in Fantastic Lives edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Southern Illinois University Press, 1981. pp102-117.
- ^ "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1973, p.103
- Anders, Charlie Jane (6 June 2013). "The editor of SFWA's bulletin resigns over sexist articles". io9. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
- The Record (Bergen County), March 1, 1993. Accessed September 10, 2009. "Malzberg, of Teaneck, opened the mail and found a warrant had been issued for his arrest because, the computer's microchips insisted, he had failed to pay a parking ticket 9½ years ago."
External links
- Barry N. Malzberg at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Tribute website
- Turkey in a Suitcase by J.D. Daniels
- 25 Points 3 Novels by A.D. Jameson
- The Future Darkly by Brian Doherty
- Barry Agonistes by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
- Anthopology 101: The (Non)Final Stage by Bud Webster at Galactic Central
- review by Paul Di Filippo of The Very Best of Barry N. Malzberg
- 2007 Interview
- 2009 Interview
- 2011 Interview Archived 2021-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
- 2012 Interview
- Interview about Malzberg's Lone Wolf series of novels