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Jack Ketchum | |
|---|---|
 Ketchum at a book fair in Paris, France, in March 2009 | |
| Born | Dallas William Mayr (1946-11-10)November 10, 1946 Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | January 24, 2018(2018-01-24) (aged 71) New York City, U.S. |
| Pen name | Jack Ketchum, Jerzy Livingston |
| Occupation | Writer, filmmaker |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Emerson College (BA) |
| Genre | Horror fiction,thriller,Western fiction,Dark fantasy,Genre fiction |
| Notable works | Off Season,The Girl Next Door,Red,The Crossings, and "The Box" (short story) |
| Notable awards | Bram Stoker Award (1994), (2000), (2003 twice) World Horror Convention Grand Master Award (2011) |
Dallas William Mayr (November 10, 1946 – January 24, 2018), better known by his pen nameJack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of fourBram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels includedOff Season,Offspring, andRed, the latter two of which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received theWorld Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.[1][2]
Ketchum was born inLivingston, New Jersey, as the only child to German immigrant parents. His father, Dallas William Mayr (1908–1997), served in the artillery during World War II[3] and his mother, Evelyn Fahner Mayr (1915–1987), was an accountant and office manager.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English fromEmerson College inBoston, Massachusetts, and later taught at the high-school level inBrookline, Massachusetts, for two years.[5]
A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, andsoda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love ofElvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: '[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing'. He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters. He was also big onHalloween, and his mother, being '[...] pretty good with the sewing machine [...]', ensured young Ketchum had an authentic costume; his favorites werePeter Pan andSuperman.[6] Ketchum further expressed an early interest in horror films such asNosferatuand the classicUniversal Monsters such asThe Hunchback of Notre Dame andThe Phantom of the Opera.[7]
Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended byRobert Bloch, author ofPsycho, who became his mentor. He supported Ketchum's work, just as his work was supported by his own mentor,H. P. Lovecraft. Ketchum's relationship with Bloch lasted until Bloch's death in 1994.[8] Ketchum's parents were the owners of a luncheonette and soda fountain where Jack worked to support his writing, as a short-order cook during the day and a soda jerk after dark.[9]
Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversialOff Season), including acting as agent for novelistHenry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency, a pivotal point in his career; his encounter with Miller at his home in thePacific Palisades is one of the subjects of his memoir inBook of Souls.[10] He also sold articles and stories — both fiction and nonfiction — to various rock 'n roll and men's magazines to supplement his income. His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity.[11]
Throughout his life, Ketchum read widely and voraciously, authors such as Robert Bloch,Charles Bukowski,Jim Harrison,Franz Douskey andErnest Hemingway. Apart from his proficiency as a short-story and magazine writer and having a vivid imagination, reading was the essential tool in the writing kit that led Ketchum from his7th Grade A-Minus Essay to theMagazines and, eventually, toOff Season and beyond.[12]
Before Ketchum turned to novel writing, he sold a prolific number of short fiction and articles to magazines. His initial pen name, Jerzy Livingston, came about during this period. Because he often had more than one piece published in a specific magazine, he would use his own name for the firstbyline and then adopt a pseudonym for the others. He came fromLivingston, New Jersey, and at the time, had been reading work by the authorJerzy Kosiński: "I liked the in-joke. Hence, Jerzy Livingston." he explained.[13] One of his best-known characters while writing as Jerzy Livingstone is Stroup, a play on Proust: Stroup, however, had zero understanding of people, even himself. Ketchum refers to Stroup as "[a] boozer. a loser. ahomophobe. A highly questionable friend and unreliable lover. Misogynist as hell and for the most part proud of it."[13] Stroup is the exact opposite ofMarcel Proust, whom Ketchum calls "[a]rguably the most sensitive writer in history".[13] Stroup appeared in the men's magazineSwank. He was resurrected in the tale "Sheep Meadow Story" that formed part of the bookTriage (2001), a collection withRichard Laymon andEdward Lee. His exploits can be found collected inBroken on the Wheel of Sex: The Jerzy Livingston Years (2007).
Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.[14][15][16]
| Title | Year | Type | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off Season | 1981 | novel | Ballantine Books | |
| Hide and Seek | 1984 | novel | Ballantine Books | |
| Cover | 1987 | novel | Grand Central Publishing | |
| She Wakes | 1989 | novel | Berkley Publishing Group | |
| The Girl Next Door | 1989 | novel | Grand Central Publishing | |
| Offspring | 1991 | novel | Diamond Books | the sequel toOff Season |
| Joyride | 1994 | novel | Berkley Publishing Group | released asRoad Kill in the U.K. |
| Stranglehold | 1995 | novel | Berkley Publishing Group | released asOnly Child in the U.K. |
| Red | 1995 | novel | Headline Book Publishing | |
| Ladies' Night | 1997 | novel | Silver Salamander Press | reworked from unpublished Ballantine release |
| The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard | 1998 | collection | Obsidian Books | short story collection |
| Right to Life | 1998 | novella | Cemetery Dance Publications | |
| The Lost | 2001 | novel | Leisure Books | |
| Peaceable Kingdom | 2003 | collection | Leisure Books | short story collection |
| The Crossings | 2003 | novel | Cemetery Dance Publications | |
| Sleep Disorder | 2003 | collection | Gauntlet Press | co-written withEdward Lee |
| Broken on the Wheel of Sex | 2006 | collection | Overlook Connection Press | stories previously written with the pseudonym Jerzy Livingston |
| Weed Species | 2006 | novella | Cemetery Dance Publications | |
| Closing Time and Other Stories | 2007 | collection | Gauntlet Press | short story collection |
| Old Flames | 2008 | novel | Leisure Books | |
| Book of Souls | 2008 | novella | Bloodletting Press | |
| The Woman | 2010 | novel | Leisure Books | co-written withLucky McKee |
| I'm Not Sam | 2012 | novel | Sinister Grin Press | co-written withLucky McKee |
| Triptych | 2012 | collection | Crossroad Press | collection of plays |
| Notes from the Cat House | 2013 | collection | Crossroad Press | collection of poems |
| The Secret Life of Souls | 2016 | novel | Pegasus Books | co-written withLucky McKee |
| Gorilla in my Room | 2017 | collection | Cemetery Dance Publications | short story collection |
