Jack Dann: Biography

JACK DANN is a multiple award winning author who has written or edited over seventy books, including the groundbreaking novels Junction, Starhiker, The Man Who Melted, The Memory Cathedral—which is an international bestseller, the Civil War novel The Silent, and Bad Medicine, which has been compared to the works of Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson and called “the best road novel since the Easy Rider days.”

Dann’s work has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Castaneda, J. G. Ballard, Mark Twain, and Philip K. Dick. Philip K. Dick, author of the stories from which the films Blade Runner and Total Recall were made, wrote that “Junction is where Ursula Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven and Tony Boucher’s ‘The Quest for Saint Aquin’ meet...and yet it’s an entirely new novel.... I may very well be basing some of my future work on Junction.” Best selling author Marion Zimmer Bradley called Starhiker “a superb book...it will not give up all its delights, all its perfections, on one reading.”

Library Journal has called Dann “...a true poet who can create pictures with a few perfect words.” Roger Zelazny thought he was a reality magician and Best Sellers has said that “Jack Dann is a mind-warlock whose magicks will confound, disorient, shock, and delight.” The Washington Post Book World compared his novel The Man Who Melted with Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal.

His books have been translated into over thirteen languages, and his short stories have appeared in Omni and Playboy and other major magazines and anthologies. He is the editor of the anthology Wandering Stars, one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970’s, and several other well-known anthologies such as More Wandering Stars. Wandering Stars and More Wandering Stars have recently been reprinted in the U. S. Dann also edits the multi-volume Magic Tales series with Gardner Dozois and is a consulting editor TOR Books.

He is a recipient of the Nebula Award, the Australian Aurealis Award (twice), the Ditmar Award (three times), the World Fantasy Award, the Peter McNamara Achievement Award, and the Premios Gilgamés de Narrativa Fantastica award. Dann has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight).

High Steel, a novel co-authored with Jack C. Haldeman II, was published in 1993 by TOR Books. Critic John Clute called it “a predator...a cat with blazing eyes gorging on the good meat of genre. It is most highly recommended.” Dann is currently writing Ghost Dance, the sequel to High Steel with Jack Haldeman's widow, author Barbara Delaplace.

Dann’s major historical novel about Leonardo da Vinci—entitled The Memory Cathedral—was first published by Bantam Books in December 1995 to rave reviews. It has been published in ten languages to date. It won the Australian Aurealis Award in 1997, was #1 on The Age bestseller list, and a story based on the novel was awarded the Nebula Award. The Memory Cathedral was also shortlisted for the Audio Book of the Year, which was part of the 1998 Braille & Talking Book Library Awards.

Morgan Llwelyn called The Memory Cathedral “a book to cherish, a validation of the novelist’s art and fully worthy of its extraordinary subject.” The San Francisco Chronicle called it “A grand accomplishment,” Kirkus Reviews thought it was “An impressive accomplishment,” and True Review said, “Read this important novel, be challenged by it; you literally haven’t seen anything like it.”

Dann’s novel about the American Civil War, The Silent, has been published by Bantam in the U. S., Lübbe in Germany, and HarperCollins in Australia. Library Journal chose it as one of their ‘Hot Picks’ and wrote: “This is narrative storytelling at its best—so highly charged emotionally as to constitute a kind of poetry from hell. Most emphatically recommended.” Peter Straub said “This tale of America’s greatest trauma is full of mystery, wonder, and the kind of narrative inventiveness that makes other novelists want to hide under the bed.” And The Australian called it “an extraordinary achievement.”

His novel Bad Medicine (titled Counting Coup in the U. S.), a contemporary road novel, has been described by The Courier Mail as “perhaps the best road novel since the Easy Rider Days.”

Dann is also the co-editor (with Janeen Webb) of the groundbreaking Australian anthology Dreaming Down-Under, which Peter Goldsworthy has called “the biggest, boldest, most controversial collection of original fiction ever published in Australia.” It won Australia’s Ditmar Award and was the first Australian book ever to win the prestigious World Fantasy Award. His anthology Gathering the Bones, of which he is a co-editor, was included in Library Journal’s Best Genre Fiction of 2003 and was shortlisted for The World Fantasy Award. His latest anthology (with Gardner Dozois) is Wizards (titled Dark Alchemy in the UK and Australia); it made the Waldenbooks/Borders bestseller list. Forthcoming is Dreaming Again, the sequel to Dreaming Down-Under.

Dann’s stories have been collected in Timetipping, Visitations, and the retrospective short story collection Jubilee: the Essential Jack Dann. The West Australian said it was “Sometimes frightening, sometimes funny, erudite, inventive, beautifully written and always intriguing. Jubilee is a celebration of the talent of a remarkable storyteller.” His collaborative stories can be found in the collection The Fiction Factory.

The West Australian called Dann’s latest novel , The Rebel: an Imagined Life of James Dean “an amazingly evocative and utterly convincing picture of the era, down to details of the smells and sensations—and even more importantly, the way of thinking.” 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 James Dean short story collection entitled Promised Land has just been published.

As part of its Bibliographies of Modern Authors Series, The Borgo Press 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 20^th Century; and Who’s Who in the World.

Dann lives in Australia on a farm overlooking the sea and ‘commutes’ back and forth to Los Angeles and New York.

Honors and Awards:

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novella, 1974, "Junction."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novella, 1974, “Junction.”

Locus Award finalist, Best Original Anthology, 1975, Wandering Stars.

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1976, "The Dybbuk Dolls."

Honorary Member, The Mark Twain Society, 1975-present, [Esteemed Knight].

Locus Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1977, Future Power.

Locus Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1979, Immortal.

Nebula Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1979, "A Quiet Revolution for Death."

Locus Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1979, "A Quiet Revolution for Death."

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1980, "Camps."

British Science Fiction Association Award finalist, Best Short Fiction, 1980, "Camps."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1980, “Camps.”

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novella, 1982, "Amnesia."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novella, 1982, “Amnesia.”

World Fantasy Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1982, "Fairy Tale."

Nebula Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1982, "Going Under."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1982, "Going Under."

Locus Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1982, More Wandering Stars.

Nebula Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1983, "High Steel."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1983, "High Steel."

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1984, "Blind Shemmy."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1984, "Blind Shemmy."

Science Fiction Chronicle Readers’ Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1984, "Blind Shemmy."

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1985, "Bad Medicine."

World Fantasy Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1985, "Bad Medicine."

Locus Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1985, "Bad Medicine."

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novel, 1985, The Man Who Melted.

Locus Award finalist, Best SF Novel, 1985, The Man Who Melted.

Locus Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1986, Bestiary.

Nebula Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1986, "The Gods of Mars."

Locus Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1986, "The Gods of Mars."

Premios Gilgamés de Narrativa Fantastica Award, Best Short Story, 1986, "Down Among the Dead Men." Spanish language award for work first published in Spanish in 1986. (The award is presented by the magazine Gilgamés.)

World Fantasy Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1988, In the Field of Fire.

Locus Award finalist, Best Anthology, 1988, In the Field of Fire.

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1989, "Tea."

Locus Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1990, "Kaddish."

Locus Award finalist, Best Short Story, 1992, "Voices."

Locus Award finalist, Best Novelette, 1993, "Jumping the Road."

Nebula Award, Best Novella, 1997, “Da Vinci Rising.”

Asimov’s Reader Poll, Best Novella, 1996, “Da Vinci Rising.”

Aurealis Award, Best Fantasy Novel, 1997, The Memory Cathedral. The Aurealis is a juried Australian award presented by the magazine Aurelais.)

Ditmar Award finalist, Best Fantasy Novel, 1997, The Memory Cathedral. The Ditmar is a readers’ award presented at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

British Fantasy Society Award finalist, Best Novel, 1997, The Memory Cathedral.

Aurealis Award, Best Science Fiction Short Story, 1998, “Niagara Falling.”

Ditmar Award, Best Science Fiction Short Story, 1998, “Niagara Falling.”

Benalla Award finalist for the Audio book of the Year, 1998, The Memory Cathedral. Part of the 1998 Braille & Talking Book Library Awards

Aurealis Award finalist, convenors’ category, 1999, Dreaming Down-Under.

Ditmar Award, Best anthology, 1999, Dreaming Down_Under.

World Fantasy Award, Best anthology, 1999, Dreaming Down Under. (This is the first time that an Australian book has ever won this award.)

Locus Award finalist, Anthology, 1999, Nanotech.

Locus Award finalist, Anthology, 1999, Nebula Awards 32.

Aurealis Award Finalist, Best Horror Short Story, 2001, “Marilyn.”

Aurealis Award Finalist, Best Science Fiction Short Story, 2002, “The Diamond Pit.”

Aurealis Award Finalist, Best Fantasy Short Story, 2002, “The Diamond Pit.”

Ditmar Award, Best short fiction, 2002, “The Diamond Pit”.

Nebula Award finalist, Best novella, 2002, “The Diamond Pit.”.

Hugo Award Finalist, Best novella, 2002, “The Diamond Pit”.

Locus Award Finalist, Best novella, 2002, “The Diamond Pit”.

Ditmar Award Finalist, Best anthology, 2002, “Jubilee”.

Aurealis Award finalist, convenors’ category, 2002, Jubilee.

Peter MacNamara Achivement Award, 2004.

International Horror Guild Award finalist, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

Aurealis Award finalist, convenors’ category, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

Bram Stoker Award finalist, Best anthology, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

World Fantasy Award finalist, Best anthology, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

International Horror Guild Award finalist, Best anthology, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

Locus Award finalist, Best anthology, 2004, Gathering the Bones.

Aurealis Award finalist, Best Science Fiction Novel, 2005, The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean.

Darrell Award, Best Midsouth Novel, 2005, The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean.

John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalist, Best Science Fiction Novel, 2005, The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean.

Locus Award finalist, Best anthology, 2006, Nebula Awards Showcase 2005.