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Al Sarrantonio (May 25, 1952 – January 27, 2025) was an Americanhorror andscience fiction writer, editor, and publisher who authored more than 50 books and 90 short stories. He also edited numerous anthologies.

Sarrantonio was born in New York City on May 25, 1952, and grew up onLong Island. He was of Italian and Scots-Irish descent. He began his career at the age of 16 with a nonfiction appearance in one of editorRay Palmer's publications. He continued to write throughout university, and in 1974, after graduation fromManhattan College with aB.A. in English, he attended theClarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop atMichigan State University.^{[citation needed]}

Sarrantonio died on January 27, 2025, at the age of 72.^[1]

In 1976 Sarrantonio began an editing career at a major New York publishing house. His first short fiction, "Ahead of the Joneses," appeared inIsaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1979, followed by a story inHeavy Metal magazine the following year. In 1980 he published 14 short stories. In 1982, after leaving publishing to become a full-time writer, he began his first novel,The Worms, followed byCampbell Wood,Totentanz andThe Boy with Penny Eyes. He established himself in the horror field with such much-anthologized stories as "Pumpkin Head", "The Man With Legs", "Father Dear," "Wish", and "Richard's Head," (all of which appear in his first short story collection,Toybox). "Richard's Head" brought him his firstBram Stoker Award nomination.

Sarrantonio was writing a horror saga revolving aroundHalloween, which takes place in the fictionalupstate New York town of Orangefield (novels:Halloweenland,Hallows Eve andHorrorween, the last of which incorporates three shorter Orangefield pieces: the short novelOrangefield, andnovelettesHornets andThe Pumpkin Boy). Other horror novels includeMoonbane,October,House Haunted andSkeletons. He has also writtenWesterns (West Texas andKitt Peak),mysteries (Cold Night andSummer Cool) andscience fiction (theEdgar Rice Burroughs-influenced trilogyHaydn of Mars,Sebastian of Mars andQueen of Mars, omnibused asMasters of Mars by theScience Fiction Book Club, 2006).

Sarrantonio was book reviewer forNight Cry magazine, the short-liveddigest-sized offshoot of theTwilight Zone Magazine, and had been a critic and columnist for other publications.

• Underground (Crossroad Press, 2013, e-book)^[8]
• Sisters in Mystery (Crossroad Press, 2012, e-book)
• Summer Cool (Walker, 1993; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• Kitt Peak (Evans, 1993; Leisure, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[9]
• Skeletons (novel) Skeletons (Bantam, 1992; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[10]
• House Haunted (Bantam, 1991; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• West Texas (Evans, 1990; Leisure, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[11]
• October (Bantam, 1990; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[12]
• Moonbane (Bantam, 1989, paperback; Cemetery Dance, 2009; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[13]
• Cold Night (TOR, 1989; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• The Boy with Penny Eyes (TOR, 1987; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• Totentanz (TOR, 1985; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• Campbell Wood (Doubleday, 1986; Berkley, 1987; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[14]
• The Worms (Doubleday, 1985; Berkley, 1988; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)

• "Orange Lake" (novelette),Impossible Monsters, edited by Kasey Lansdale (Subterranean Press, 2013; Crossroad Press, e-book, 2015)
• "All Souls Day" (Mark Sieber'sHorror Drive-In exclusive Orangefield short story featuring original art by Keith Minnion)[1] (October 2009)
• Halloweenland (Leisure Books Mass Market Paperback 2007;Cemetery Dance limited edition hardcover, 2009;Crossroad Press e-book, 2012) - A novel length book that includes elements ofThe Baby and much more new material (the Leisure paperback also includes the original version ofThe Baby as a bonus).
• Horrorween (Leisure, 2006;Crossroad Press e-book, 2012) - A retelling of "Hornets,"The Pumpkin Boy, andOrangefield.^[15]
• The Baby (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006) - A limited edition novelette
• The Pumpkin Boy (Endeavor, 2005) - A limited edition novelette
• Hallows Eve (Leisure, 2004;Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006;Crossroad Press e-book, 2012)^[16]
• Orangefield (Cemetery Dance, 2002)
• "Hornets" (a short work that first appeared inTrick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas edited byRichard Chizmar) (Cemetery Dance, 2001)

• Return (ROC, 1997; Crossroad Press, 2012, e-book)
• Journey (ROC, 1997; Crossroad Press, 2012, e-book)
• Exile (ROC, 1996; Crossroad Press, 2012, e-book)

• Masters of Mars (Science Fiction Book Club collection of all three titles in one hardcover, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• Queen of Mars (Ace, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)
• Sebastian of Mars (Ace, 2005; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)^[17]
• Haydn of Mars (Ace, 2005; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book)

• Babylon 5: Personal Agendas (Dell, 1997)

• Halloween and Other Seasons (Cemetery Dance, 2008; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book). Includes:^[18]

"Summer"

"Sleepover"

"Eels"

"Letters From Camp"

"Roger in the Womb"

"The Return of Mad Santa"

"Baby Boss and the Underground Hamsters"

"Trail of the Chromium Bandits"

"The Man in the Other Car"

"Hedges"

"The Silly Stuff"

"The New Kid"

"Ahead of the Jonses"

"The Artist in the Small Room Above"

"The Dancing Foot"

"Liberty"

"Dust"

"The Pumpkin Boy"

• Hornets and Others (Cemetery Dance, 2005; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book). Includes:

"The Ropy Thing"

"The Only"

"The Beat"

"In the Corn"

"Two"

"The Coat"

"The Haunting of Y-12"

"Billy the Fetus"

"Stars"

"Bags"

"The Red Wind"

"The Green Face"

"White Lightning"

"The Glass Man"

"Violets"

"The Quiet Ones"

"Hornets"

• A Little Yellow Book of Fevered Stories (Borderlands Press, 2004). Includes:

"Preface"

"Father Dear"

"The Ropy Thing"

"The Electric Fat Boy"

"Sleepover"

"In the Corn"

"Stars"

"The New Kid"

"Pumpkin Head"

• Toybox (Cemetery Dance, 1999; Leisure, 2003; Crossroad Press, 2011, e-book). Includes:

"Pumpkin Head"

"The Man With Legs"

"The Spook Man"

"Wish"

"Under My Bed"

"The Big House"

"Bogy"

"The Corn Dolly"

"The Electric Fat Boy"

"Snow"

"Garden of Eden"

"The Dust"

"Father Dear"

"Children of Cain"

"Red Eve"

"Pigs"

"Richard's Head"

"Boxes"

• Chrysalis 7, edited by Roy Torgeson (Doubleday, 1981). Contains the short story, "The Artist in the Small Room Above"
• Chrysalis 9, edited by Roy Torgeson (Doubleday, 1981). Contains the short story, "That They Be Saved"
• Shadows 4 edited ByCharles L. Grant. (Doubleday Science Fiction 1981). Includes the short story, "Under My Bed"
• Shadows 5 edited ByCharles L. Grant. (Doubleday Science Fiction 1982). Includes the short story, "Boxes"
• Shadows 6 edited ByCharles L. Grant. (Doubleday Science Fiction 1983). Includes the short story, "The Man With Legs"
• Weirdbook 18, published by W. Paul Ganley, 1983. Includes the short story "The Quiet Ones"
• Shadows 8 edited ByCharles L. Grant. (Doubleday Science Fiction 1985). Includes the short story, "Wish"
• Shadows 10 edited ByCharles L. Grant. (Doubleday Science Fiction 1987). Includes the short story, "Pigs"
• Weirdbook 23/24, (Double issue) published by W. Paul Ganley, 1988. Includes the short story, "The Red Wind"
• Stalkers, edited byEd Gorman andMartin H. Greenberg. (Dark Harvest Books 1989). Includes the short story, "Children of Cain"
• Razored Saddles edited byJoe R. Lansdale andPat LoBrutto. (Dark Harvest, 1989). Includes the short story, "Trail of the Chromium Bandits"
• Under the Fang, edited byRobert R. McCammon (Pocket Books, Aug. 1991). Includes the short story "Red Eve"
• Bruce Coville's Book of Spine Tinglers: Tales to Make You Shiver, edited byBruce Coville (Apple Paperbacks 1996). Includes the short story, "Letters From Camp"
• The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, edited by Mike Ashley. (Carroll & Graf Pub 1998). Includes the short story, "The Return of Mad Santa"
• Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas edited by Richard Chizmar. (Cemetery Dance 2001). Includes the short story "Hornets"
• Shivers, edited byRichard Chizmar. (Cemetery Dance 2002). Includes the short story, "The Green Face"
• The Ultimate Halloween, edited byMarvin Kaye. (I Books 2003). Includes the short story, "Pumpkin Head"
• Shivers II, edited byRichard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance 2003). Includes the short story, "The New Kid"
• Shivers III, edited byRichard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance 2004). Includes the short story, "Hedges"
• Quietly Now (a tribute toCharles L. Grant), edited by Kealan Patrick Burke (Borderlands 2004). Includes the short story, "Dust"
• Retro-Pulp Tales, edited byJoe R. Lansdale (Subterranean Press, 2006). Includes the short story, "Summer"
• Shivers IV, edited byRichard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance 2006). Includes the short story, "The Man in the Other Car"
• Midnight Premiere, edited byTom Piccirilli (Cemetery Dance Publications 2007). Includes the short story, "Baby Boss and the Underground Hamsters"
• Shivers V, edited byRichard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance 2009). Includes the short story "Cookies"
• Cemetery Dance: a Fifteen Year Celebration, edited byRichard Chizmar. (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2010). May include the short story, "Landing Earl"
• Shivers VI, edited byRichard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance 2010). Includes the short story "Last"
• Impossible Monsters, edited byKasey Lansdale (Subterranean Press, 2013). Includes the Orangefield novelette "Orange Lake"

• Portents - signed original anthology published in 2011.
• Stories - co-edited withNeil Gaiman. Published June 2010.
• Halloween: New Poems (anthology of original poems by Al Sarrantonio,James A. Moore,T. M. Wright,Joe R. Lansdale,Brian Freeman,Gary A. Braunbeck, and more) (May 2010, Cemetery Dance)ISBN 978-1-58767-205-7
• Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy (ROC, 2004). Includes his short story "Sleepover."
• Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction (ROC, 2001)
• 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense (Avon, 1999; Perennial, 2001)
• 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories (with Martin H. Greenberg, Barnes & Noble, 1993)
• The National Lampoon Treasury of Humor (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1991)
• The Fireside Treasury of New Humor (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1989)
• The Fireside Treasury of Great Humor (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1987)

• Cemetery Dance, #46. Features the short story "Eels."
• Cemetery Dance, #35, 2001. Features the short story "Violets."
• Cemetery Dance, #22 Winter 1995 (Volume Six, Issue Four). Features the short story "Garden of Eden."
• Cemetery Dance, #4 Spring 1990 (Volume 2 issue 2). Features the short story "The Meek."
• Spiderwebs, Volume 1, Number 2; Spring 1982. Contains the short story "Sherlocks."
• Fantasy Book, #3; February 1982. Contains the short story "The Return of Mad Santa."
• Analog Science Fiction and Fact Volume 101 #13; December 1981. Features the short story "There is a Home."
• Heavy Metal May 1979. Features the short story "Roger in the Womb."
• Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Volume 3 #3; March 1979. Features the short story "Ahead of the Joneses."

• Cemetery Dance Presents: Grave Tales issue #2 (May 2000). Features "The Corn Dolly" adapted byGlenn Chadbourne.
• Weird Business edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Richard Klaw (1995). Features "The Man with Legs."

• [2] Robert McCammon interview
• [3] Cemetery Dance Publications
• [4] HarperCollins Publishers
• Al Sarrantonio at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database

• 1952 births
• 2025 deaths
• 20th-century American novelists
• 21st-century American novelists
• American horror writers
• American male novelists
• American mystery writers
• American science fiction writers
• American people of Scotch-Irish descent
• American writers of Italian descent
• People from Long Island
• Novelists from New York City
• Western (genre) writers
• Manhattan College alumni
• American male short story writers
• 20th-century American short story writers
• 21st-century American short story writers
• 20th-century American male writers
• 21st-century American male writers

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