Steakley, John
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1951-2010) US actor and author who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Bluenose Limit" for Amazing in 1981, but who is chiefly known for his two novels. Armor (1984), which is Military SF, focuses on an interstellar War between humanity and insectoid Aliens, engagements being fought by human soldiers from within the exoskeletons of nuclear-powered Mecha; the complex plot urges comparisons between mecha and the psychic armour humans must develop to survive in a singularly cruel universe. Vampire$ (1990; vt Vampires 2008) is horror (see Horror in SF), in which a high-tech team of Vampire hunters are hired by the Pope to fight to the death against ingenious vampires lurking in America; it was filmed by John Carpenter as Vampires (1998). Steakley published little other fiction, although he contributed to both of Robert Adams's Horseclans Shared-World anthologies. [JC]
John William Steakley Jr
born Cleburne, Texas: 26 July 1951
died McKinney, Texas: 27 November 2010
works
- Armor (New York: DAW Books, 1984) [pb/James Gurney]
- Vampire$ (New York: Penguin/Roc, 1990) [pb/]
- Vampires (New York: Penguin/Roc, 2008) [vt of the above: pb/Paul Young]
links
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