Dann, Jack

Entry updated 9 December 2024. Tagged: Author, Editor.

(1945- ) US author and anthologist, with a BA in social/political science, married initially to Jeanne Van Buren Dann and from 1995 to Janeen Webb, with both of whom he has collaborated, mostly resident in Australia from about 1990; he began publishing sf in 1970 with "Traps" (March 1970 If) and "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" (July 1970 If), both written with George Zebrowski. Among his best and most revealing stories of this early period was Junction (stories November 1973, September 1977 Fantastic; fixup 1981), a Nebula-award finalist in its magazine form; its young protagonist must leave the eponymous village, the last place on Earth to remain physically stable [in fantasy terms it is a Polder; see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], to explore the "Hell" of mutability outside. The expansion cogently dramatizes what Gregory Feeley has suggested is Dann's central theme: the rousing of a young man from disaffected solipsism into awareness of the marvels of the noösphere. Starhiker (fixup 1977), set in a heightened Space-Opera venue, similarly puts a young human singer-bard escapee from Alien-occupied Earth into an alien Spaceship, where he undergoes a series of revelatory experiences (including near self-transcendence on a sentient planet) before returning to his depressed home. The stories assembled in Timetipping (coll 1980) reiterate this basic pattern. Only with The Man Who Melted (1984) did Dann expand his canvas by introducing a human subject – the lost wife of a passionately dysfunctional protagonist must search through a baroque world rendered savagely mutable through collective psychoses which have a binding effect on reality. The world depicted through this lens of obsessional quest has some of the fraught but encompassing urgency of the best work of David Marusek.

For a decade or so after the release of The Man Who Melted, Dann became very well known for his anthologies; the better of these – like Wandering Stars (anth 1974) and More Wandering Stars (anth 1981), sf about Jews; Immortals: Short Novels of the Transhuman Future (anth 1980); the impressive In the Field of Fire (anth 1987) with Jeanne Van Buren Dann, about Vietnam; or Gathering the Bones: Thirty-three Original Stories From the World's Masters of Horror (anth 2003) with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison – are strongly argued thematic anthologies. The long series of Magic Tales anthologies, all edited with Gardner Dozois [see Checklist below], are lighter efforts, but not inconsequential. Wizards: magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (anth 2007) with Gardner Dozois is a substantial assembly of original stories.

Dann's suddenly renewed presence from the 1990s on is only in part artefactual – the publication of an early version of Bad Medicine (2000; vt Counting Coup 2001) was thwarted by the collapse of Bluejay Books; it is an American Road fantasy laced with melancholia and premonitions of great loss. Echoes of Thunder (1991 chap dos) with Jack C Haldeman II – a Tor Books Double originally designed for Dos publication, but ultimately released in the format of a conventional two-item anthology – was much expanded as High Steel (1993), a virtuoso Near Future tale which begins with its American Indian protagonist's experiences as a shanghaied worker constructing a Space Station, but soon expands in various directions, as the hero evolves into a Superman, apocalyptic hallucinations afflict Earth's normals, and an enigmatic message left by Aliens promises the secret of FTL travel. Later work has moved from sf, though not from the fantastic. The Memory Cathedral: A Secret History of Leonardo da Vinci (1995) fantasticates the life of the last universal genius (see Leonardo da Vinci) in an edificial world which takes the shape and functions of the Theatre of Memory. The novella "Da Vinci Rising" (May 1995 Asimov's) won a Nebula. The Silent (1998), though without any overt sanctioning of a fantastic reading, generates, through the mute bare gaze of its child-picaro protagonist on the naked world of the American Civil War, a powerful Equipoisal sense that the world thus viewed contains anything we are capable of dreaming to explain it. A sequence of Alternate History tales in which James Dean survives – The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean (2004) and Promised Land (coll 2007) – – poignantly asserts a version of California that the protagonist of The Silent might have found livable; eventually, after dominating Hollywood for years, Dean becomes Governor of the state. Concentration (coll 2016) assembles tales from the previous four decades, all dealing in various ways with the Final Solution (see Holocaust Fiction). Shadows in the Stone: A Book of Transformations (2019), though hinting at an Alternate History of Europe, is perhaps better thought of as a heterodox theological fantasy set in a Renaissance Italy literally created by Satan. Jack Dann (coll 2022), in its publisher's Masters of Science Fiction series, extensively covers his entire career.

A short memoir, Insinuations: An Autobiography (2010 chap), builds on various earlier essays, bringing the narrative of his life up to 2007. [JC]

Jack Mayo Dann

born Johnson City, New York: 15 February 1945

works

series

James Dean

The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollins, 2004) [James Dean: pb/]
- The Rebel: Second Chance (no place given, Australia: Satalyte, 2004) [exp rev vt of the above: rewritten and much expanded: James Dean: hb/]
Promised Land (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2007) [coll: James Dean: hb/Vincent Chong]

individual titles

Starhiker (New York: Harper and Row, 1977) [hb/Melanie Desmond]
Junction (New York: Dell Books, 1981) [fixup: portions first appeared as "Junction", November 1973 Fantastic, and "The Island of Time", September 1977 Fantastic: pb/uncredited]
The Man Who Melted (New York: Bluejay International Edition, 1984) [hb/Al de Angelo]
Echoes of Thunder (New York: Tor, 1992) with Jack C Haldeman [chap: originally designed for dos release, but in fact released with another title in one sequence: technically an anthology: pb/Barclay Shaw]
- High Steel (New York: Tor, 1993) with Jack C Haldeman [exp vt of the above: hb/Tim Jacobus]
The Memory Cathedral: A Secret History of Leonardo da Vinci (New York: Bantam Books, 1995) [hb/Tim Jacobus]
The Silent (New York: Bantam Books, 1998) [hb/Honi Werner]
Bad Medicine (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollins, 2000) [pb/Black Cherry]
- Counting Coup (New York: Tor, 2001) [vt of the above: hb/Rich Deas]
Shadows in the Stone: A Book of Transformations (Australia: IFWG Publishing, 2019) [hb/Bob Eggleton]

collections and stories

Timetipping (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980) [coll: hb/Margo Herr]
Jubilee (Melbourne, Victoria: HarperCollins, 2001) [coll: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
Visitations (Waterville, Maine: Thorndyke Books, 2003) [coll: hb/Katy Rewston]
The Fiction Factory (Urbana, Illinois: Golden Gryphon Press, 2005) [coll: collecting stories in collaboration with various writers: hb/J K Potter]
The Economy of Light (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2008) [hb/Vincent Chong]
Da Vinci Rising / The Diamond Pit (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/The Borgo Press, 2010) [dos: two novellas in back-to back format: pb/Danick63 and Paul Fleet]
Decimated: Ten Science Fiction Stories (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/The Borgo Press, 2012) with George Zebrowski [coll: dos: pb/]
Concentration (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2016) [coll: hb/Amander Rainey]

works as editor

series

Wandering Stars

Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York: Harper and Row, 1974) [anth: Wandering Stars: hb/Mark Rubin]
More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981) [anth: Wandering Stars: hb/Bob Korn]

Magic Tales

Aliens! (New York: Ace Books, 1980) with Gardner Dozois [anth: precursor to the Magic Tales sequence: pb/Michael Whelan]
Unicorns! (New York: Ace Books, 1982) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/]
Magicats! (New York: Ace Books, 1984) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Ann Meisel]
Bestiary! (New York: Ace Books, 1985) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Dawn Wilson]
Mermaids! (New York: Ace Books, 1985) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Carl Lundgren]
Sorcerers! (New York: Ace Books, 1986) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Dean Morrissey]
Demons! (New York: Ace Books, 1987) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Hiro Kimura]
Dogtales! (New York: Ace Books, 1988) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Hiro Kimura]
Seaserpents! (New York: Ace Books, 1989) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Hiro Kimura]
Dinosaurs! (New York: Ace Books, 1990) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Bob Walters]
Magicats II (New York: Ace Books, 1991) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Jim Warren]
Little People! (New York: Ace Books, 1991) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Daniel R Home]
Unicorns II (New York: Ace Books, 1992) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Neal McPheeters]
Dragons! (New York: Ace Books, 1993) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Bob Eggleton]
Invaders! (New York: Ace Books, 1993) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Joan Pelaez]
Horses! (New York: Ace Books, 1994) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Den Beauvais]
Angels! (New York: Ace Books, 1995) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Den Beauvais]
Dinosaurs II (New York: Ace Books, 1995) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Bob Eggleton]
Hackers (New York: Ace Books, 1996) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Sharmen Liao]
Timegates (New York: Ace Books, 1997) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Jean-François Podevin]
Clones (New York: Ace Books, 1998) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Lee MacLeod]
Immortals (New York: Ace Books, 1998) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Jean-François Podevin]
Nanotech (New York: Ace Books, 1998) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Doug Struthers]
Armageddons (New York: Ace Books, 1999) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Phil Hefferman]
Future War (New York: Ace Books, 1999) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Chris Moore]
Aliens Among Us (New York: Ace Books, 2000) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Walter Velez]
Space Soldiers (New York: Ace Books, 2001) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Lee MacLeod]
Genometry (New York: Ace Books, 2001) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Walter Velez]
Future Sports (New York: Ace Books, 2002) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Ben Gibson]
Beyond Flesh (New York: Ace Books, 2003) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Jan Franz]
Future Crimes (New York: Ace Books, 2003) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Getty Images]
A.I.s (New York: Ace Books, 2004) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/AXB Group]
Beyond Singularity (New York: Ace Books, 2005) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/Ben Gibson]
Robots (New York: Ace Books, 2005) with Gardner Dozois [anth: Magic Tales: pb/]

Threes

Three in Time: White Wolf Rediscovery Trio, Volume 1 (Clarkston, Georgia: White Wolf, 1997) with Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski [anth: Threes: pb/]
Three in Space: White Wolf Rediscovery Trio, Volume 2 (Clarkston, Georgia: White Wolf, 1998) with Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski [anth: Threes: pb/Lawrence Snelly and Kathleen Ryan]

Dreaming Down-Under

Dreaming Down-Under: Thirty-one Original Stories From the Wild Side of Australian Speculative Fiction (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollins/Voyager, 1998) with Janeen Webb [anth: Dreaming Down-Under: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Dreaming Down-Under: Book One (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollins/Voyager, 1999) with Janeen Webb [anth: rev vt, containing the first half of the above: Dreaming Down-Under: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Dreaming Down-Under: Book Two (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollins/Voyager, 1999) with Janeen Webb [anth: rev vt, containing the second half of the above: Dreaming Down-Under: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
Dreaming Again: Thirty-Five New Stories Celebrating the Wild Side of Australian Fiction (New York: Eos, 2008) [anth: Dreaming Down-Under: pb/Peter Dombrovskis]

Nebula Awards