Jack Ketchum

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For the train-robber Black Jack Ketchum, see Tom Ketchum.

Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for horror fiction author Dallas Mayr. He was born in 1946. Praised by such literary icons as Stephen King^[1], Ketchum has also been condemned by a Village Voice^[2] critic who once dismissed his work as violent pornography. A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, and lumber salesman, Ketchum credits his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and the horror genre for instilling him with the foundation to build a respectable career. His ferocious 1981 debut novel, Off Season, laid the foundation for a series of nerve-shredding novels and short stories (sometimes inspired by real-life events) in which humankind proves to be the most dreaded beast of all. Most noteable of these, his novel The Girl Next Door was loosely based on the murder of Sylvia Likens. Throughout the years, Ketchum has received numerous Bram Stoker Awards for such works as "The Box", "Closing Time", and Peaceable Kingdom. As his works gained in popularity, they began to be translated into feature films with such releases as The Lost, The Girl Next Door, and Red.