John Pelan

John Pelan
Born(1957-07-19)July 19, 1957
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
DiedApril 12, 2021(2021-04-12) (aged 63)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Occupation
  • Writer
  • editor
  • publisher
GenreHorror fiction, Science-fiction

John C. Pelan (July 19, 1957 – April 12, 2021) was an American author, editor and publisher in the small press science-fiction, weird and horror fiction genres.

He first founded Axolotl Press in 1986 and published several volumes by authors such as Tim Powers, Charles de Lint, Michael Shea and James P. Blaylock. Following this, he founded Darkside Press, Silver Salamander Press and co-founded Midnight House. Darkside Press printed classics of Science Fiction, Midnight House published classic horror fiction (including Charles Birkin, Jane Rice and R. R. Ryan) and Silver Salamander Press was devoted to new works of modern horror, but all three have been inactive since 2006.

Pelan has edited over two dozen single-author collections and novels by such authors as Russell Kirk, Violet Hunt and Fritz Leiber for various publishers including Ash-Tree Press. He was working on assembling collections by, Uel Key, Daniel F. Galouye and Richard B. Gamon. He was also the editor of several "new fiction" anthologies, including Darkside: Horror for the Next Millennium, The Devil Is Not Mocked, The Last Continent: New Tales of Zothique, The Children of Cthulhu and the Bram Stoker Award-winning The Darker Side.

Pelan's short stories have appeared in Carpe Noctem, The Urbanite, Enigmatic Tales, and on-line at Gothic.net and Horrorfind.com. His first novella, the Lovecraftian work The Colour Out of Darkness, was published by Cemetery Dance Publications.[1][2][3] Pelan died on April 12, 2021, from a heart attack.[4]

  1. ^ "The Dark Arts" (Press release). Cemetery Dance Publications. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
  2. ^ "The Children of Cthulhu" (Press release). Del Rey Books. 2003. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
  3. ^ "John Pelan Bio" (Press release). Necro Publications. Archived from the original on 2006-05-18. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
  4. ^ "John Pelan (1957–2021)". Locus. April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.