Trent Zelazny

Trent Zelazny (born November 28, 1976) is an American author of crime and horror fiction. His work includes To Sleep Gently, Fractal Despondency, Shadowboxer, the short story collection The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories, the novel Destination Unknown, and A Crack in Melancholy Time. His short story "The House of Happy Mayhem" received an honorable mention in Best Horror of the Year 2009. His novella Butterfly Potion will soon be released by Nightscape Press.^[1]

He is also the son of Roger Zelazny.^[2]

Biography

Zelazny started his publishing career in 1999 with two short stories, "Hope Is an Inanimate Desire" and "Harold Asher and His Vomiting Dogs". In 2001 he began to publish more frequently, horror, crime and comedy mostly, often with mixed reviews. In 2002 his story "Lovely Day for Beating an Old Guy" was published in the anthology Random Acts of Weirdness, edited by Brian Knight.

Zelazny’s professional debut came with the publication of his short story collection The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories (Wilder Publications, 2009), featuring 20 previously published stories and four new ones. Like his short work before, the collection received mixed reviews. Many felt it was uneven, and sloppy at times. Though he had previously sold a novel in 2008, it did not see release until December, 2011.

Zelazny moved to Florida, then took some time away from writing, having developed a drinking problem, and losing his fiancé to suicide.^[3] In 2011 he returned with the novella Fractal Despondency (Black Curtain Press, 2011), followed quickly by Shadowboxer, To Sleep Gently, and A Crack in Melancholy Time (Crossroad Press, 2011). His novel Destination Unknown (iBooks) was finally released.

To Sleep Gently also received the Nightmare Award in 2011.

In February 2012, Zelazny wrote his first short play, Not Any Little Girl, which will premiere in Santa Fe in late April, as well as a story titled "Black Whispers" for the shared world anthology World’s Collider, edited by Richard Salter (Nightscape Press). In March, he signed a contract with Nightscape Press for the release of his novella Butterfly Potion (release date not yet stated).

Influences

Zelazny cites his biggest influences as those from the pulp era. David Goodis, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, Jonathan Craig, as well as Joe R. Lansdale and Donald E. Westlake, and several of the existentialists, most notably Søren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre. He also commonly acknowledges Jane Lindskold as his greatest mentor.

Bibliography

Collections

• The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories (2009)

Coming Soon

• Butterfly Potion (Novella, Nightscape Press, 2012)

Editing

In 2012 Zelazny will publish his first collection as an editor. The collection Mirages: Tales from Authors of the Macabre (forthcoming, Black Curtain Press, 2012) will contain works by Tom Piccirilli, E.A. Black, Joseph S. Pulver, Kealan Patrick Burke, Jeffrey Thomas, Edward Morris, Gerald Hausman, Joe R. Lansdale, Billie Sue Mosiman and others.

Essays

• "Isle of Regret" in Amberzine edited by Erick Wujcik, 2005
• "How to Write a Short Story for Publication in the New Yorker, by Everette Sage Brown" in The Santa Fe Literary Review edited by Erin Pulsipher and Tom Stevens, 2006
• "Afterword" (The Dead Man's Brother) (2009)

Longer Works

• "A Crack in Melancholy Time" (2011)
• "Destination Unknown" (2011)
• "Fractal Despondency" (2011)
• "Shadowboxer" (2011)
• "To Sleep Gently" (2011)
• "Butterfly Potion" (2012)

Short fiction

• "Harold Asher and His Vomiting Dogs" in Scavenger's Newsletter edited by Janet Fox, 1999
• "Hope Is an Inanimate Desire" in 'Cemetery Sonata edited by June Hubbard, Chameleon Publishing 1999

• "Acupuncture" in Shadow of the Marquis (webzine) edited by Alex Severin, 2001
• "Chicken Strips" in Delirium Magazine edited by Shane Ryan Staley, 2001
• "Lunatic" in Shadow of the Marquis (webzine) edited by Alex Severin, 2001
• "The Disappearance of Experimentation" in Shadow of the Marquis (webzine) edited by Alex Severin 2001

• "A Dead Man's Burrito" in House of Pain, November/December issue, 2002
• "Caught in Etcetera" in Psrhea Magazine, February edited by David Kennedy, 2002
• "Competition" in House of Pain webzine, February/March issue edited by Wraith, 2002
• "Lovely Day for Beating an Old Guy" in RAW: Random Acts of Weirdness editor by Brian Knight, Catalyst Press 2002
• "On My Feet" in Deviant Minds, December issue edited by Rob Parnell, 2002
• "The End of the Rainbow" in The Swamp webzine, August issue edited by Pete Allen, 2002
• "The Music" in Horrorfind, February issue edited by Brian Keene, 2002
• "The Ten-in-One" in The Swamp June issue (webzine) edited by Pete Allen, 2002

• "Opportunity Knocks" in Penumbric Speculative Fiction edited by Jeff Georgeson, 2003

• "Mourning Road" in Ethereal Gazette, October issue edited by Nickolaus Pacione, 2005
• "The Day the Leash Gave Way" in Aphelion, May issue edited by Robert Moriyama, 2005

• "An Angle for the Angels" in Etheral Gazette, February issue edited by Nickolaus Pacione, 2006
• "Divadavidavida" in Susurrus: The Literature of Madness, February issue edited by Brian Worley, 2006
• "Found Money" in Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, September/October issue, edited by Marlene Satter, 2006

• "Bathing Beauty" (2009)
• "Hooch" (2009)
• "Sparkle Head" (2009)
• "The House of Happy Mayhem" (2009)
• "Two-Thirty-Six" (2009)

• "Nothingness Dust" in Kizuna: Fiction for Japan' edited by Brent Millis, CreateSpace (2011)
• "Snow Blind" in Stupefying Stories, December issue edited by Bruce Bethke, 2011

• "The Digital Eidolon That Fits in Your Pocket" in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination' edited by Warren Lapine, 2012

References

External links

• Official website
• Trent Zelazny's Goodreads page