Jonathan Carroll

Jonathan Samuel Carroll (born January 26, 1949) is an American author primarily known for novels, which can be characterized as magic realist, slipstream or modern fantasy. He also writes short stories.

Life and work

Carroll was born in New York City to Sidney Carroll, a film writer whose credits included "The Hustler", and June Carroll (née Sillman), an actress and lyricist who appeared in numerous Broadway shows and two films. He is the half brother of composer Steve Reich and nephew of Broadway producer Leonard Sillman. His parents were Jewish but Carroll was raised in the Christian Science religion. A self-described "troubled teenager," he finished primary education at the Loomis School in Connecticut and graduated with honors from Rutgers University in 1971, marrying artist Beverly Schreiner in the same year. He relocated to Vienna, Austria a few years later and began teaching at the American International School, and has made his home in Austria ever since.

His first novel, "The Land of Laughs" (1980), is indicative of his general style and subject matter. Told through realistic first person narration, the novel concerns a young schoolteacher searching for meaning through researching the life of a favorite children's book author of his youth, which involves meeting the author's daughter. Everything seems fine until the dog begins talking to him, as the line between the fantasy world created by his research subject and the reality of the schoolteacher's life, while the reader begins to wonder just how much trust can be placed in this narrator. Subsequent novels would expand on these themes, but often contain unreliable narrators in a world where magic is viewed as natural. (One commentator claimed that Carroll would have been considered a magical realist had he been born in South America and had a Spanish surname.)Fact|date=February 2007

Awards

Carroll's short story, "Friend's Best Man", won the World Fantasy Award. his novel, "Outside the Dog Museum" won the British Fantasy Award and his collection of short stories won the Bram Stoker Award. The novels "The Land of Laughs" and "From The Teeth of Angels" won the French "Prix Imaginaire". His short story "Home on the Rain" was chosen as one of the best stories of the year by the Pushcart Prize committee. Apart from the above honors, Carroll has gotten on the short-list for other World Fantasy Awards, the Hugo and British Fantasy Awards.

Bibliography

Novels

* "The Land of Laughs" (1980)
* "Voice of Our Shadow" (1983)
*The Answered Prayers Sextet
** "Bones of the Moon" (1987) (slightly revised US edition, 1988)
** "Sleeping in Flame" (1988)
** "A Child Across the Sky" (1989, "Washington Post" Book of the Year)
** "Outside the Dog Museum" (1991)
** "After Silence" (1992)
** "From the Teeth of Angels" (1993), "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book)
* The Crane's View Trilogy
** "Kissing The Beehive" (1997)
** "The Marriage of Sticks" (2000)
** "The Wooden Sea" (2001, "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book)
* "White Apples" (2002)
* "Glass Soup" (2005)
* "Oko Dnia" ("Eye Of The Day") (2006, Polish language edition)
*"The Ghost in Love" (2008)

Novellas and short novels

*"Black Cocktail" (1990)

hort story collections

* "Die Panische Hand" (1989) (German language edition)
* "The Panic Hand" (1995) [Short story collection; expansion of the 1989 German language edition; the 1996 US edition adds the novella "Black Cocktail"]
* "The Heidelberg Cylinder" (2000) [novella; 1000 copy limited edition, signed by Jonathan Carroll and cover artist Dave McKean.]

Interviews

* [http://www.wotmania.com/fantasymessageboardshowmessage.asp?MessageID=121987 Interview with Jonathan Carroll on wotmania.com]
* [http://www.sfsite.com/05a/jc103.htm A conversation with Jonathan Carroll on SF Site]
* [http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2002winter/carroll.shtml The Complete Rain Taxi Interview with Jonathan Carroll]
* [http://www.critiquemagazine.com/onwriting/index.php?author=carroll&submit=Go Jonathan Carroll interview on the Critique Magazine website]

External links

* [http://www.jonathancarroll.com/ Official Jonathan Carroll Website and daily blog]
* [http://www.glasssoup.com/ Glass Soup] - the official website for his novel, art design by Ryder Carroll--- www.rydercarroll.com
*isfdb name | id=Jonathan_Carroll | name=Jonathan Carroll
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0198/carroll/ Jonathan Carroll at Bold Type] Author essay titled "New Year's Resolutions"; Book excerpt from "Kissing the Beehive."

ee also