Grant, Charles L

Entry updated 9 December 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1942-2006) US author who restricted himself since the late 1970s almost exclusively to horror and fantasy fiction [see selected Checklist below], mainly under his own name (sometimes in the form C L Grant), though he wrote books and series as by Felicia Andrews, Steven Charles, Simon Lake, Lionel Fenn, Debora Lewis and Geoffrey Marsh. He began publishing work of genre interest with "The House of Evil" for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in December 1968; of this early work, "A Crowd of Shadows" (June 1976 F&SF) and "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye" (in Graven Images, anth 1977, ed Edward L Ferman & Barry N Malzberg) both won Nebulas and are, respectively, his best short story and best novelette.

From the mid-1970s, Grant began to concentrate on longer work with the release of his first novels, the Parric Family series of Post-Holocaust tales: The Shadow of Alpha (1976), Ascension (1977) and Legion (1979). Set in a balkanized America ravaged by a PlagueWind (see Pandemic) and beset with petty dictators and crazed Androids, all three novels – they were designed to form part of a much longer, uncompleted sequence – are told in a somewhat heated style possibly derived from the example of Samuel R Delany, and perhaps more suitably applied, as Grant has seemingly decided, to other genres.

Further novels containing sf elements include The Ravens of the Moon (1979), and – at a broad stretch – his work as by Lionel Fenn, specifically the Kent Montana sequence of comic sf novels beginning with Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars (1990), which invokes Hollywood icons (see California) through the adventures of a failed actor; two further series as by Lionel Fenn are of some comic interest: the Quest for the White Duck sequence beginning with Blood River Down (1986); and the Diego series of spoofish Westerns, featuring a gunslinger who travels through time (see Time Travel), beginning with Once Upon a Time in the East (1993). The Private School sequence as by Stephen Charles, beginning with Private School #1: Nightmare Session (1986), comprises a set of Young Adult novels set at a school infiltrated by Aliens.

But the precepts of horror fiction soon became dominant in his voluminous output. Of his horror, the best-known titles fit into the Oxrun Station sequence beginning with The Hour of the Oxrun Dead (1977); the series is listed below. The Millennium Quartet, beginning with Symphony(1997), toys fairly intensely with the End of the World as threatened by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, here covertly embodied in human form, a topos later exploited more far-rangingly by Neil Gaiman in American Gods (2005); by the climax of Riders in the Sky (1999), all four are opposed, in the end successfully.

Grant also edited two notable series – Shadows and two of the Night Visions anthologies, also listed – and a useful manual, Writing and Selling Science Fiction (anth 1976). [JC]

Charles Lewis Grant

born Hackettstown, New Jersey: 12 September 1942

died Newton, New Jersey: 15 September 2006

works (selected; most non-sf singletons are unlisted)

series

Parric Family

The Shadow of Alpha (New York: Berkley Medallion, 1976) [Parric Family: pb/Richard Powers]
Ascension (New York: Berkley Medallion, 1977) [Parric Family: pb/Vincent Di Fate]
Legion (New York: Berkley Books, 1979) [Parric Family: pb/]

Oxrun Station

The Hour of the Oxrun Dead (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977) [Oxrun Station: hb/Ben Stahl]
The Sound of Midnight (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) [Oxrun Station: hb/Ben Stahl]
Nightmare Seasons (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [coll: Oxrun Station: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
The Last Call of Mourning (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [Oxrun Station: hb/]
The Grave (New York: Fawcett Popular Library, 1981) [Oxrun Station: hb/]
The Bloodwind (New York: Fawcett Popular Library, 1982) [Oxrun Station: hb/]
The Soft Whisper of the Dead (West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M Grant, Publisher, 1982), [Oxrun Station: Nineteenth Century: hb/R J Krupowicz]
The Dark Cry of the Moon (West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M Grant, Publisher, 1986), [Oxrun Station: Nineteenth Century: hb/R J Krupowicz]
The Long Night of the Grave (West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M Grant, Publisher, 1982) [Oxrun Station: Nineteenth Century: hb/Jill Bauman]
The Orchard (New York: Tor, 1986) [coll: Oxrun Station: pb/David Mann]
Dialing the Wind (New York: Tor, 1989) [coll: Oxrun Station: pb/David Mann]
The Black Carousel (New York: Tor, 1985) [coll: Oxrun Station: hb/Tim O'Brien]

Private School

Private School #1: Nightmare Session (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986) [Private School: pb/Gary Lang]
Private School #2: Academy of Terror (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986) [Private School: pb/Gary Lang]
Private School #3: Witch's Eye (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986) [Private School: pb/Gary Lang]
Private School #4: Skeleton Key (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986) [Private School: pb/]
Private School #5: The Enemy Within (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1987) [Private School: pb/Gary Lang]
Private School #6: The Last Alien (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1987) [Private School: pb/Ken Barr]

Quest for the White Duck

Blood River Down (New York: Tor, 1986) as by Lionel Fenn [Quest for the White Duck: pb/Daniel Horne]
Web of Defeat (New York: Tor, 1987) as by Lionel Fenn [Quest for the White Duck: pb/Daniel Horne]
Agnes Day (New York: Tor, 1987) as by Lionel Fenn [Quest for the White Duck: pb/Daniel Horne]
The Seven Spears of the W'dch'ck (New York: Tor, 1988) as by Lionel Fenn [Quest for the White Duck: pb/Jill Bauman]

Kent Montana

Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars (New York: Ace Books, 1990) as by Lionel Fenn [Kent Montana: pb/Walter Velez]
Kent Montana and the Reasonably Invisible Man (New York: Ace Books, 1991) as by Lionel Fenn [Kent Montana: pb/Walter Velez]
Kent Montana and the Once and Future Thing (New York: Ace Books, 1991) as by Lionel Fenn [Kent Montana: pb/Walter Velez]
The Mark of the Moderately Vicious Vampire (New York: Ace Books, 1992) as by Lionel Fenn [Kent Montana: pb/Walter Velez]
668: The Neighbor of the Beast (New York: Ace Books, 1992) as by Lionel Fenn [Kent Montana: pb/Walter Velez]

Diego

Once Upon a Time in the East (New York: Ace Books, 1993) as by Lionel Fenn [Diego: pb/Walter Velez]
By the Time I Get to Nashville (New York: Ace Books, 1994) as by Lionel Fenn [Diego: pb/Walter Velez]
Time: The Semi-Final Frontier (New York: Ace Books, 1994) as by Lionel Fenn [Diego: pb/Walter Velez]

Millennium Quartet

Symphony (New York: Forge, 1997) [Millennium Quartet: hb/]
In the Mood (New York: Forge, 1998) [Millennium Quartet: hb/]
Chariot (New York: Forge, 1998) [Millennium Quartet: hb/]
Riders in the Sky (New York: Forge, 1999) [Millennium Quartet: hb/Mark Gerber]

individual titles

The Ravens of the Moon (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [hb/Fred Marcellino]

collections and stories

Tales from the Nightside: Dark Fantasy (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1981) [coll: introduction by Stephen King: illus/Andrew Smith: hb/Michael R Whelan]

works as editor

series

Shadows

Shadows (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) [anth: Shadows: hb/James Starrett]
- Shadows II (London: Headline, 1987) [anth: vt of the above: Shadows: hb/]
Shadows #2 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [anth: Shadows: hb/Mark Berghash]
Shadows #3 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980) [anth: Shadows: hb/Scott Chelius]
Shadows #4 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981) [anth: Shadows: hb/]
- Shadows (London: Headline, 1987) [anth: vt of the above: Shadows: hb/]
Shadows #5 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1982) [anth: Shadows: hb/Andrea Pautz]
Shadows #6 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1983) [anth: Shadows: hb/Andrea Pautz]
Shadows #7 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1984) [anth: Shadows: hb/Peter R Kruzan]
Shadows #8 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1985) [anth: Shadows: hb/Margo Herr]
Shadows #9 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1986) [anth: Shadows: hb/]
Shadows #10 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1987) [anth: Shadows: hb/Margo Herr]
The Best of Shadows (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1988) [anth: Shadows: hb/Christopher Zacharow]
Final Shadows (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1991) [anth: Shadows: hb/Christopher Zacharow]

Night Visions

Night Visions 2: All Original Stories (Niles, Illinois: Dark Harvest, 1985) [anth: Night Visions: hb/Robert Lavoie]
- Night Visions: Dead Image (New York: Berkley Books, 1987) [anth: Night Visions: hb/James Warhola]
- Night Terrors (London: Headline, 1989) [anth: vt of the above: Night Visions: hb/]
Night Visions 4 (Niles, Illinois: Dark Harvest, 1987) edited anonymously [anth: it has been claimed that Grant did not edit this title: Night Visions: hb/]
- Night Fears (London: Macdonald, 1989) edited anonymously [anth: vt of the above: Night Visions: hb/]

individual titles as editor

Writing and Selling Science Fiction (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest, 1976) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
Midnight (New York: Tor, 1985) [anth: pb/Jill Bauman]

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