Ed Gorman (writer)

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Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. (November 2, 1941 – October 14, 2016) was an American writer and short fiction anthologist. He published in almost every genre, but is best known for his work in the crime, mystery, western, and horror fields. His non-fiction work has been published in such publications as The New York Times and Redbook.

He has contributed to many magazines and other publications, including Xero, Black Lizard, Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and the anthology Tales of Zorro.

Personal life[]

Gorman was born and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he spent much of his adult life as well. He lived for extended periods in Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois. He was married twice, first to Catherine Anne Stevens for seven years. He next married Carol Gorman (née Maxwell), an award-winning children's and young adult author. They were married thirty-four years until his death in 2016.

Writing career[]

After twenty-three years in advertising, public relations, writing political speeches and producing industrial films, Gorman published his first novel Rough Cut (1984). Soon after he quit his day job and dedicated himself to writing full-time (thanks to his wife Carol's full-time teaching job).

Gorman considered himself a genre writer. In the 1970s Gorman won a short story contest sponsored by Charles Scribner & Sons. An editor there suggested he expand his winning story into a mainstream novel, but Gorman gave up after six months, saying, “I was bored out of my mind. I am a genre writer.”^[1]

Gorman’s novels and stories are often set in small Midwestern towns, such as the fictional Black River Falls, Iowa (the Sam McCain series), or Cedar Rapids, Iowa (The Night Remembers). For his Dev Conrad series, Gorman drew upon his years as a political operative.

Gorman was one of the founders of Mystery Scene magazine, and served as editor and publisher until 2002. His column, “Gormania,” continues to appear regularly in its pages.

In comics, he has written for DC, Dark Horse, and most recently Short, Scary Tales, which will be publishing adaptations of his novel Cage of Night (as Cage of Night) and the short story "Stalker" (as Gut-Shot).

Kirkus Reviews has called him "One of the most original crime writers around." The Bloomsbury Review noted: "He is the poet of dark suspense." The Oxford Book of American Crime Stories said: "His novels and stories provide fresh ideas, characters and approaches." Jon Breen at Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine once noted, "Ed Gorman has the same infallible readability as writers like Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Donald E. Westlake, Ed McBain, and John D. MacDonald."

Though Gorman was long considered to be a "prolific" writer, his pace of production slowed markedly after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002; it was incurable.

Awards[]

He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001. Gorman won the 1994 Anthony Award for Best Critical Work for The Fine Art Of Murder. He was nominated for multiple Anthonys in short story categories.^[2]

He is a winner of the Life Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and The International Horror Writers Award (previous winners include Stephen King and Richard Matheson). He was nominated for the Edgar Award.

Adaptations[]

His novel The Poker Club was adapted as a film in 2008 by director Tim McCann. His short stories “The Long Silence After” and “The Ugly File” were adapted as short films. In 2016, rights to his novel Cage of Night and short story “Stalker” were bought for adaptation as graphic novels, to be published by Short, Scary Tales.

Selected bibliography[]

Novels and short story[]

• Graves' Retreat (1989)
• The Poker Club (1990)
• What the Dead Men Say (1990)
• Night Kills (1992)
• Cage of Night (1992)
• Wolf Moon (1993)
• Batman: I, Werewolf (1993)
• Shadow Games (1996)
• Cast in Dark Waters (with Thomas Piccirilli) (2002)
• Gun Truth (2003)
• The Midnight Room (2009)
• The Man From Nightshade Valley (with James Reasoner) (2012)
• The Prodigal Gun (with James Reasoner) (2012)
• Fast Track (with Bill Crider) (2014)
• Backshot (2015)

Short Story Collections[]

• Famous Blue Raincoat (Crippen & Landru, 1999)
• The End of it All and Other Stories (Ramble House, 2009)
• Noir 13 (Perfect Crime Books, 2010)
• The Long Ride Back & Other Western Stories (Western Fictioneers Library, 2013)
• Scream Queen and Other Tales of Menace (Perfect Crime Books, 2014)
• A Disgrace to the Badge & Other Western Stories (2015)
• Shadow Games and Other Sinister Stories of Show Business (Short, Scary Tales, 2016)

Series[]

Dev Conrad Series

1. Sleeping Dogs (Thomas Dunne Books, 2008)
2. Stranglehold (Minotaur Books, 2010)
3. Blindside (Severn House, 2012)
4. Flashpoint (Severn House, 2013)
5. Elimination (Severn House, 2015)

Jack Dwyer Series[]

1. Rough Cut (1985)
2. New Improved Murder (1985)
3. Murder Straight Up (1986)
4. Murder in the Wings (1986)
5. The Autumn Dead (1987)
6. A Cry of Shadows (1990)
7. What the Dead Men Say (1990)
8. The Reason Why (1992)

• The Dwyer Trilogy (1994) (a collection that includes The Autumn Dead, A Cry of Shadows, and the short story "Eye of the Beholder")

Tobin Series[]

1. Murder in the Aisle (1987)
2. Several Deaths Later (1988)

Jack Walsh Series[]

1. The Night Remembers (1991)

Robert Payne Series[]

1. Blood Moon (UK title Blood Red Moon) (1994)
2. Hawk Moon (1995)
3. Harlot's Moon (1998)
4. Voodoo Moon (2000)

Sam McCain Series[]

1. The Day the Music Died (1999)
2. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (2000)
3. Wake Up Little Susie (2001)
4. Save the Last Dance for Me (2002)
5. Everybody's Somebody's Fool (2004)
6. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (2004)
7. Fools Rush In (2007)
8. Ticket to Ride (2009)
9. Bad Moon Rising (2011)
10. Riders on the Storm (Pegasus Crime, 2014)

Dean Koontz Frankenstein series[]

From Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series (they are co-authored by Dean Koontz):

• Book No. 2 City of Night

Pen name books[]

As E.J. Gorman[]

• The Marilyn Letters
• The First Lady
• Daughter of Darkness
• Senatorial Privilege

As Daniel Ransom[]

• Toys in the Attic (1986)
• The Forsaken (1988)
• The Babysitter (1989)
• Nightmare Child (1990)
• The Serpent's Kiss (1992)
• The Long Midnight (1992)
• Night Screams (1996)
• The Zone Soldiers (1996)

As Robert David Chase

• Graveyard
• Ghost Hunters
• Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession

Graphic Novels[]

• Kolchak: Dawn of the Demons (with Ricky Sprague) (Moonstone Books, 2016)
• Gut-Shot (based on the short story "Stalker," adapted by Ricky Sprague) (Short, Scary Tales, 2016)
• Cage of Night (based on the novel, adapted by Ricky Sprague) (Short, Scary Tales, 2016)

Anthologies[]

As editor and/or contributor

• The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction (Black Lizard Books, 1987)
• Stalkers: 19 Original Tales By the Masters of Terror (Dark Harvest Books, 1989)
• Cat Crimes (1991) with Martin H. Greenberg
• Prisoners and Other Stories (1992)
• Dark Crimes 1 (1991)
• Dark Crimes 2 (1993)
• Dark Whispers (1993)
• Cages (1995)
• Moonchasers (1996)
• Robert Bloch's Psychos (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1997) includes the short story "Out There in the Darkness"
• The Big Book of Noir (1998)
• Famous Blue Raincoat (1999)
• October Dreams (2000)
• Such a Good Girl (2001)
• The Dark Fantastic (2001)
• The Long Silence After (2001)
• The Long Ride Back (2004)
• Different Kinds of Dead (2006)
• Wolf Woman Bay and 9 More of the Finest Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year! (2007) with Martin H. Greenberg
• Tales of Zorro (2008)
• Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre (2016)

References[]

External links[]

• Edward Gorman at IMDb
• Ed Gorman at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Ed Gorman's blog
• Dark Party Review Ed Gorman Discusses His Writing
• Mystery Scene, magazine co-founded by Gorman with Robert J. Randisi.