The Magic (October 1961–October 1967)

There was a period, from 1961–1967, when Roger Zelazny was magic, and every new story of his was an event. He was a tremendously variable writer. The heart-wrenching “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” (written October 1967) was nothing like the passionate “Graveyard Heart,” which was completely different from the mind blowing “The Ides of Octember,” serialized in Amazing as “He Who Shapes,” which was altogether different from the post-nuclear holocaust romp, “Damnation Alley,” published in Galaxy and released as a film ten years later.

Zelazny had style, his language sang, his prose flowed like poetry. There was really no one else quite like him when he exploded onto the scene. Collected here together in one volume are the ten long stories that made Zelazny a legend. The impact of these ten stories cannot be denied. Reading them together gives one a sense of how rare an accomplishment Zelazny’s early career was.

Samuel R. Delany is the author of more than 20 novels including Nova and Dhalgren. He has won two Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, two Lambda Awards, and the Stonewall Book Award. Delany is an SFWA Grand Master and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002. He is widely regarded as one of our most important science fiction authors.

Roger Zelazny was a science fiction and fantasy writer, a six time Hugo Award winner, and a three time Nebula Award Winner. He published more than forty novels in his lifetime. His first novel This Immortal, serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction under the title… And Call Me Conrad, won the Hugo Award for best novel. Lord of Light, his third novel, also won the Hugo award and was nominated for the Nebula award. He died at age 58 from colon cancer. Zelazny was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010.