Damon Knight
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Damon Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic.
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[edit] Biography
Knight's first story was published in 1941. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writers' Conference, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, United States, with his wife Kate Wilhelm, also a science fiction writer.
At that time of his first story, he was living in New York, and was a member of the Futurians. One of his short stories describes paranormal disruption of a science fiction fan group, and contains cameo appearances of various Futurians.
In a series of reviews for various magazines, he became famous as a science fiction critic. After nine years, he ceased reviewing when a magazine refused to publish one review exactly as he wrote it. These reviews were later collected in In Search of Wonder.
The SFWA's Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement was renamed in his honor. Formerly known as the Grand Master Award, Knight received that honor in 1994.
To the general public, he is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He is also known for the term "second-order idiot plot," a story set in a society that only functions because everyone or almost everyone in it is an idiot.
[edit] Partial bibliography
For the main article, see Bibliography of Damon Knight.
[edit] Novels
- Hell's Pavement (1955)
- VOR (with James Blish) (1958)
- A is for Anything (1959)
- Masters of Evolution (1959)
- The People Maker (1959)
- The Sun Saboteurs (1961)
- Beyond the Barrier (1964)
- Mind Switch (1965)
- Off Centre (1965)
- The Rithian Terror (1965)
- The Earth Quarter (1970)
- World without Children (1970)
- The World and Thorinn (1980)
- The Man in the Tree (1984)
- CV (1985)
- The Observers (1988)
- Double Meaning (1991)
- God's Nose (1991)
- Why Do Birds (1992)
- Humpty Dumpty: An Oval (1996)
[edit] Short stories and other writings
- "Not with a Bang" (1949)
- "To Serve Man" (1950)
- "The Country of the Kind" (1955)
- The Futurians (memoir/history)
- In Search of Wonder (collected reviews and critical pieces)
- Turning Points (editor/contributor: critical anthology)
- Orbit (the anthology series) (editor)
