Edward Bryant
Edward Winslow Bryant Jr. (born August 27,1945) is a science fiction and horror writer sometimes associated with the Dangerous Visions series of anthologies that bolstered The New Wave.
Bryant was born in White Plains, New York. However, he was raised on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. He had strong roots in that state attested to in his collection Wyoming Sun. He attended school in Wheatland, Wyoming and received his MA in English from the University of Wyoming in 1968.
During the 1950s his uncle, a rodeo star, encouraged his love of film. This perhaps ultimately led to his occasional work in screenplays and as an actor. He was in the films The Laughing Dead (1988) and Ill Met by Moonlight (1994). The second is based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also did screenplays for TV shows on channels from CBS, Lifetime and Disney.
At the beginning of his career he developed an association with Harlan Ellison, which proved longstanding. This led to collaborative efforts like the novel Phoenix Without Ashes. He also owns several cats and currently lives in North Denver.
His writing career began in 1968 with his attendance at the Clarion Workshop. By 1973, he had gained acclaim for stories with a conversational style that mask rather dark realities. At times these realities are downright apocalyptic, although in other cases the message is joyous and hopeful.
His short horror story "Dark Angel", which appeared in Kirby McCauley's anthology Dark Forces, featured modern-day witch Angela Black, whose name reflects her moral ambiguity. She reappears as the narrator of Bryant's short novel Fetish.
He won two Nebula awards for his short stories, Stone (1978) and giANTS (1979). He is mostly known as a writer of short fiction, however he also writes poetry, nonfiction, reviews, criticism, and edits an e-zine.
When Bryant moved to Denver in 1972, he founded the Northern Colorado Writer's Workshop, which continues today, and has produced a number of notable writers, including Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem, John Dunning, Wil McCarthy, Bruce Holland Rogers, Dan Simmons, and Connie Willis. In addition, Bryant has facilitated a number of other writing workshops over the years for writers ranging in skill and experience from amateur to professional. Although generally known as a writer himself, Bryant's greatest legacy may be the encouragement, instruction, and mentoring he has given to hundreds of other writers through the years.
Selected works
- Among the Dead (1973)
- Cinnabar (1976)
- The American Tricentennial (1977)
- Wyoming Sun (1980)
- Particle Theory (1981)
- Fetish (1991)
- Flirting With Death (1995)