Damon Knight: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 11:02, 16 June 2007

Damon Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan.

Biography

Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941: an editorial error made this story's ending incomprehensible, although the story was later reprinted elsewhere as Knight originally wrote it. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writers' Conference, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, United States, with his wife Kate Wilhelm, also a science fiction writer.

At that time of his first story, he was living in New York, and was a member of the Futurians. One of his short stories describes paranormal disruption of a science fiction fan group, and contains cameo appearances of various Futurians under thinly-disguised names: for instance, H. Beam Piper is identified as "H. Dreyne Fifer".

In a series of reviews for various magazines, he became famous as a science fiction critic. After nine years, he ceased reviewing when a magazine refused to publish one review exactly as he wrote it. These reviews were later collected in In Search of Wonder.

The SFWA's Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement was renamed in his honor. Formerly known as the Grand Master Award, Knight received that honor in 1994.

To the general public, he is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He is also known for the term "second-order idiot plot," a story set in a society that only functions because everyone or almost everyone in it is an idiot. One of Knight's best-known stories, "The Country of the Kind" (reprinted in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One) describes a future utopia in which everyone is peaceful, kindly and honest ... except for a single individual who is compelled to be destructive and abusive, apparently because the society needs such an outsider so as to bolster everyone else's pride in their conformity.

Partial bibliography

For the main article, see Bibliography of Damon Knight.

Novels

Hell's Pavement (1955)
VOR (with James Blish) (1958)
A is for Anything (1959)
Masters of Evolution (1959)
The People Maker (1959)
The Sun Saboteurs (1961)
Beyond the Barrier (1964)
Mind Switch (1965)
Off Centre (1965)
The Rithian Terror (1965)
The Earth Quarter (1970)
World without Children (1970)
The World and Thorinn (1980)
The Man in the Tree (1984)
CV (1985)
The Observers (1988)
Double Meaning (1991)
God's Nose (1991)
Why Do Birds (1992)
Humpty Dumpty: An Oval (1996)

Short stories and other writings

Not with a Bang (1949)
To Serve Man (1950)
Ask Me Anything (1951)
Cabin Boy (1951)
The Analogues (1952)
Beachcomber (1952)
Ticket to Anywhere (1952)
Anachron (1953)
Babel II (1953)
Four in One (1953)
Special Delivery (1953)
Rule Golden (1954)
The Country of the Kind (1955)
You're Another (1955)
Extempore (1956)
The Last Word (1956)
Stranger Station (1956)
The Dying Man (1957)
The Enemy (1957)
An Eye for a What? (1957)
Be My Guest (1958)
Eripmav (1958)
Idiot Stick (1958)
Thing of Beauty (1958)
The Handler (1960)
Time Enough (1960)
The Big Pat Boom (1963)
God's Nose (1964)
Maid to Measure (1964)
Shall the Dust Praise Thee? (1967)
Masks (1968)
I See You (1976)
Forever (1981)
O (1983)
Strangers on Paradise (1986)
Not a Creature (1993)
Fortyday (1994)
Life Edit (1996)
Double Meaning
In the Beginning
The Futurians (memoir/history)
In Search of Wonder (collected reviews and critical pieces)
Turning Points (editor/contributor: critical anthology)
Orbit (the anthology series) (editor)
"The Big Pat Boom" appears in "The Seventh Galaxy Reader" (ed by Frederik Pohl)

External links

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 The SFWA's [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award]] for lifetime achievement was renamed in his honor.  Formerly known as the Grand Master Award, Knight received that honor in [[1994]].
-To the general public, he is best known as the author of "[[To Serve Man]]", which was adapted for ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.  He is also known for the term "second-order [[idiot plot]]," a story set in a society that only functions because everyone or almost everyone in it is an idiot. One of Knight's best-known stories, "[[The Country of the Kind]]" (reprinted in ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One'' describes a future [[utopia]] in which everyone is peaceful, kindly and honest ... except for a single individual who is compelled to be destructive and abusive, apparently because the society needs such an outsider so as to bolster everyone else's pride in their conformity.
+To the general public, he is best known as the author of "[[To Serve Man]]", which was adapted for ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.  He is also known for the term "second-order [[idiot plot]]," a story set in a society that only functions because everyone or almost everyone in it is an idiot. One of Knight's best-known stories, "[[The Country of the Kind]]" (reprinted in ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One'') describes a future [[utopia]] in which everyone is peaceful, kindly and honest ... except for a single individual who is compelled to be destructive and abusive, apparently because the society needs such an outsider so as to bolster everyone else's pride in their conformity.
 ==Partial bibliography==