Damon Knight

Damon Knight
Born	September 19, 1922(1922-09-19)
Died	April 15, 2002(2002-04-15) (aged 79)
Occupation	Author, editor, critic
Nationality	United States
Genres	Science fiction

Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.^[1]

Biography

Damon Knight was born in Baker, Oregon in 1922, and grew up in Hood River, Oregon. He entered science-fiction fandom at the age of eleven and published two issues of a fanzine entitled "Snide." ^[2]

Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories.^[3] His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941;^[4] an editorial error made this story's ending incomprehensible,^[5] although the story was later reprinted elsewhere as Knight originally wrote it.^{[citation needed]} He was a Hugo Award winner,^[6][7] founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA),^[8] cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation,^[9] cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop,^[10] and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop.^[11] Until his death, Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm, also a writer of science fiction and of fantasy, contemporary mimetic and crime fiction.^[12]

At the time of his first story, he was living in New York, and was a member of the Futurians.^[4] One of his short stories describes paranormal disruption of a science fiction fan group, and contains cameo appearances of various Futurians and others under thinly-disguised names: For instance, non-Futurian sf writer H. Beam Piper is identified as "H. Dreyne Fifer".

In a series of reviews for various magazines, he became famous as a science fiction critic, a career which began when he wrote in 1945 that A. E. van Vogt "is not a giant as often maintained. He's only a pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter."^[13] 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.^[4]

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.^[4]

To the general public, he is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone.^[14] He is also known for the term "idiot plot," a story that only functions because almost everyone in it is an idiot; the term was probably invented by James Blish, but became well-known through Knight's frequent use of it in his reviews.^[15]

One of Knight's best-known stories, "The Country of the Kind" (reprinted in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One) describes a future utopia in which everyone is peaceful, kindly and honest ... except for a single individual who is compelled to be destructive and abusive; his mental illness (and artistic temperament) is contrasted with savage irony to their bland but apparently contented conformity.^{[citation needed]} Another particularly interesting piece is "Rule Golden", in which an alien spreads a chemical that makes everyone receive as much pain as they give unto others. The consequences of what this would do to governments in general, and America's role in the world, are discussed in some detail.^{[citation needed]}

Partial bibliography

Main article: Damon Knight bibliography

Novels

• Hell's Pavement (1955)
• A for Anything (1961) (original version titled The People Maker, 1959)
• Masters of Evolution (1959)
• The Sun Saboteurs (1961)
• Beyond the Barrier (1964)
• Mind Switch (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)

Short stories and other writings

• "Not with a Bang" (1949)
• "To Serve Man" (1950)
• "Ask Me Anything" (1951)
• "Cabin Boy" (1951)
• "The Analogues" (1952)
• "Beachcomber" (1952)
• "Ticket to Anywhere" (1952)
• "Anachron" (1953)
• "Babel II" (1953)
• "Four in One" (1953)
• "Special Delivery" (1953)
• "Natural State" (1954)
• "Rule Golden" (1954)
• "The Country of the Kind" (1955)
• "Dulcie and Decorum" (1955)
• "You're Another" (1955)
• "Extempore" (1956)
• "The Last Word" (1956)
• "Stranger Station" (1956)
• "Dio" (1957)
• "The Dying Man" (1957)
• "The Enemy" (1958)
• "An Eye for a What?" (1957)
• "Be My Guest" (1958)
• "Eripmav" (1958)
• "Idiot Stick" (1958)
• "Thing of Beauty" (1958)
• "The Handler" (1960)
• "Time Enough" (1960)
• A Century of Science Fiction (1962) (editor)
• The Big Pat Boom (1963)
• God's Nose (1964)
• Maid to Measure (1964)
• "Shall the Dust Praise Thee?" (1967)
• Masks (1968)
• I See You (1976)
• Forever (1981)
• O (1983)
• Strangers on Paradise (1986)
• Not a Creature (1993)
• Fortyday (1994)
• Life Edit (1996)
• Double Meaning
• In the Beginning

Literary criticism and analysis

• In Search of Wonder (1956) (collected reviews and critical pieces)
• Creating Short Fiction (1981) (advice on writing short stories)
• Turning Points (editor/contributor: critical anthology)
• Orbit (editor)
• The Futurians (1977, memoir/history)

Short story collections

• Far Out (1961) (contains "To Serve Man")
• In Deep (1963) (contains "The Country of the Kind")
• Off Center (1965) (contains "Be My Guest")
• Turning On (1966)

Notes

1. ^ Malzberg, Barry N., ed (1976). The Best of Damon Knight. Nelson Doubleday. 
2. ^ http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/knight_damon_1922_2002_/
3. ^ Knight, "Knight Piece", in Aldiss & Harrison, Hell's Cartographers, p. 105.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "Damon Knight". Gollancz/SFE Ltd.. http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/Entry/knight_damon. Retrieved 15 October 2011. 
5. ^ Pohl, SFWA Grand Masters Volume Three, p. 202.
6. ^ "Retro Hugo Awards 1951". World Science Fiction Society. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1951-retro-hugo-awards/. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
7. ^ "1956 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1956-hugo-awards/. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
8. ^ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America History and Statistics". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. http://www.sfwa.org/about/history-and-statistics/. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
9. ^ "The History of N3F". The National Fantasy Fan Federation. http://www.n3f.org/N3Fhistory.shtml#2.13. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
10. ^ "Milford History". Milford Speculative Fiction Writers. http://www.milfordsf.co.uk/history.htm. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
11. ^ "Robin Scott Wilson". Gollancz/SFE Ltd.. http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wilson_robin_scott. Retrieved 15 October 2011. 
12. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/obituaries/17KNIG.html
13. ^ http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/knight_damon_1922_2002_/
14. ^ Stanyard, Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone, p. 51.
15. ^ Gary K. Wolfe, "Coming to Terms", in Gunn & Candelaria, Speculations on Speculation, p. 18.

Bibliography

• Aldiss, Brian W.; Harrison, Harry (1976). Hell's Cartographers. London: Futura. ISBN 0-8600-7907-4
• Gunn, James E.; Candelaria, Matthew (2005). Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4902-X
• Pohl, Frederik (2002). The SFWA Grand Masters: Volume 3. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0312868766
• Stanyard, Stewart T. (2006). Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series. Chicago: ECW Press. ISBN 9781550227444

External links

• SFWA Obituary for Damon Knight
• Damon Knight at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Damon Knight Papers at Syracuse University

Persondata
Name	Knight, Damon Francis
Alternative names
Short description	American author, editor and critic
Date of birth	1922-09-19
Place of birth	Baker, Oregon, United States
Date of death	2002-04-15
Place of death	Eugene, Oregon, United States