Tag Archives: Charles L. Grant

Remembering Charles L. Grant

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two decades since Charles L. Grant (1942-2006) left us. His birthday is today, September 12.

Highly prolific, Grant wrote novels and short stories under his own name and a number of pen names. Lionel Fenn was probably the most well-known. He wrote foru gothic novels under the name Deborah Lewis.

Grant was also a major editor. his landmark anthology series, Shadows, set a high standard for short horror and dark fantasy. They are worth tracking down. Reading them would be instructive to anyone wanting to write in a similar vein. He also edited stand alone anthologies and a series set in fictional Greystone Bay.

Grant was the preemininet practitioner of what is known as quiet horror. a subgenre that doesn’t depend on graphic content. That’s the type of horror I prefer. I’ll try to read one of his stories tonight.

What are your favorite Charles L. Grant stories?

Remembering Charles L. Grant

Today, September 12, is the birthday of Charles L. Grant (1942-2006). He passed away on September 15, just three days after sixty-fourth birthday.

I never got the chance to meet him, but he is to my mind one of the central figures of the second half of the Twentieth Century.

Grant left a legacy to the fields of dark fantasy and suspense in two ways. With his writing and with his editing.

Let’s take a look at both, shall we? Continue reading →

Remembering Charles L. Grant

Charles L. Grant

September 12, AKA today, is the birthday of Charles L. Grant (1942-2006). Grant was a practitioner of what is known as quiet horror. It’s the type of horror I prefer. In addition to being an amazing writer, he was one of the most influential anthology editors of the late 1970s and 80s.

I first became aware of Shadows, the groundbreaking anthology series he edited when I was in the 8th grade.  We had recently moved to Paris, TX.  The public library had a good selection of anthologies for a library of that size in those days, including at least one, and probably more, titles from the Shadows series. The first volume I read was Shadows 3. I was hooked. I hunted down the others, especially Shadows 2, which had “The Chair” by Jane Cozart and Alan Dean Foster, Foster being my favorite writer at the time.  This was about a year before I discovered Kuttner and Brackett. Continue reading →

Grant and Foster

Charles L. Grant

No, I said Grant and Foster, not Foster Grant.  As in Charles L. Grant and Alan Dean Foster.

Today, September 12, marks the birth of Charles L. Grant (1942-2006).  Grant was one of the major practitioners of what is known as quiet horror.  In addition to writing horror, Grant also wrote fantasy and bit of science fiction.  Much of this work was published under other names, the most common being Lionel Fenn.

Much of his fiction is set in the city of Oxrun Station.  These stories and novels are among Grant’s best.

Continue reading →