"Roger Zelazny combined poetic prose with fearless literary ambition to become one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 1960s. Yet many critics found his later novels underachieving and his turn to fantasy a disappointment. F. Brett Cox surveys the landscape of Zelazny's creative life and contradictions. Launched by the classic 1963 short story "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," Zelazny soon won the Hugo Award for Best Novel with ...And Call Me Conrad and two years later won again for Lord of Light. Cox looks at the author's overnight success and follows Zelazny into a period of continued formal experimentation, the commercial triumph of the Amber sword and sorcery novels, and renewed acclaim for Hugo-winning novellas such as "Home Is the Hangman" and "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai." Throughout, Cox analyzes aspects of Zelazny's art, from his preference for poetically alienated protagonists to the ways his plots reflected his determined individualism. Clear-eyed and detailed, this book provides an up-to-date reconsideration of an often-misunderstood SF maverick"--

Cover

Title

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Out of Nowhere: Beginnings-1963

Chapter 2. Everybody Loves a Winner: 1964-1968

Chapter 3. Do Quit Your Day Job: 1969-1971

Chapter 4. A Series of Different Endeavors: 1972-1979

Chapter 5. Nothing on Spec but Still Some Joy: 1980-1995

Afterword

An Interview with Roger Zelazny

A Roger Zelazny Bibliography

Notes

Bibliography of Secondary Sources

Index

Back cover

F. Brett Cox is Charles A. Dana Professor of English at Norwich University. He is the author of The End of All Our Exploring: Stories and coeditor of Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic.