McCrumb, Sharyn
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1948- ) US author, in most of whose titles detective plots intersect with fantasy and/or sf material, though her first novel to invoke these genres, Bimbos of the Death Sun (1987), a Recursive Satire set at an sf Convention, does not actually turn into sf, and is the first of the Jay Omega sequence. What is most remarkable about the book, for the sf reader, may be McCrumb's intimate understanding of fans (see Fandom) and writers and their typical interactions, a knowledgeability which also marks Zombies of the Gene Pool (1992), in which sf writer Jay Omega – in real life James Mega, a professor of engineering – visits another convention, and becomes embroiled in ancient sf scandals (see Fandom); there may be some roman à clef moments in the text. Both Jay Omega titles were assembled as Bimbos & Zombies (omni 1998). Sometimes only glancingly, most volumes of the Ballad sequence, beginning with If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (1991; vt If Ever I Return 1995) and ending with Ghost Riders (2003), contain fantasy elements. [JC]
see also: Postal Worlds.
Sharyn McCrumb
born Wilmington, North Carolina: 26 February 1948
works
series
Jay Omega
- Bimbos of the Death Sun (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR/Windwalker, 1987) [Jay Omega: illus/pb/Jeff Easley]
- Zombies of the Gene Pool (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992) [Jay Omega: hb/Corsillo/Manzoni]
- Bimbos & Zombies (Garden City, New York: Mystery Guild, 1998) [omni of the above two: Jay Omega: hb/Jeff Walker]
Ballad
- If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990) [Ballad: hb/]
- If Ever I Return (London: Coronet, 1995) [vt of the above: pb/]
- The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992) [Ballad: hb/Seth Jaben]
- She Walks These Hills (New York: Simon and Schuster/Scribner, 1994) [Ballad: hb/Marc Burckhardt]
- The Rosewood Casket (New York: E P Dutton, 1996) [Ballad: hb/Marc Burckhardt]
- The Ballad of Frankie Silver (New York: E P Dutton, 1998) [Ballad: hb/Ken Murray]
- The Songcatcher (New York: E P Dutton, 2001) [Ballad: hb/Kenneth Murray]
- Ghost Riders (New York: E P Dutton, 2003) [Ballad: hb/]
- The Devil Amongst the Lawyers (New York: Thomas Dunne Books / St Martin's Press, 2010) [Ballad: hb/]
- The Ballad of Tom Dooley (New York: Thomas Dunne Books / St Martin's Press, 2011) [Ballad: hb/]
- King's Mountains (New York: Thomas Dunne Books / St Martin's Press, 2013) [Ballad: hb/]
- Prayers the Devil Answers (New York: Simon and Schuster Atria, 2017) [Ballad: hb/]
individual titles
- The Unquiet Grave (New York: Simon and Schuster Atria, 2017) [hb/]
collections
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Other Stories (New York: Ballantine Books, 1997) [coll: hb/Larry Schwinger]
links
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