April 30, 2013(2013-04-30) (aged 78) Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation
Writer, editor
Genre
Science fiction, fantasy, erotic fiction
Andrew Jefferson Offutt V (August 16, 1934 – April 30, 2013)[1] was an Americanscience fiction,fantasy, anderotic fiction author.[1] He wrote as Andrew J. Offutt, A. J. Offutt, and Andy Offutt. His normal byline, andrew j. offutt, has all his name in lower-case letters. Hiserotica appeared under seventeen different pseudonyms, principallyJohn Cleve,John Denis,Jeff Morehead, andTurk Winter.[2][3]
"Andrew J. Offutt is the recently 'tired and re-tired', as he puts it, president of theScience Fiction Writers of America. He lovesheroic fantasy though at 6' 1" he is built for speed, not combat. Kentuckian Offutt has a number of other books in and out of print, and has been a helpless fan ofRobert E. Howard since birth. Now he calls himself theSteve Garvey among writers; 'Surely it's every boy's dream to grow up—but not too much—and get to write about Conan'. Offutt researches with gusto, both in and out of books, having—briefly and painfully, he says—wornchainmail and helm and wielded sword. He is also tired of aged, bald, ugly, sexless mages and squeaky females in heroic fantasy".
Offutt was born in a log cabin near Taylorsville,Kentucky. He was married for more than 50 years to Jodie McCabe Offutt of Lexington, Kentucky. They had four children: writerChris Offutt;Jeff Offutt, Professor of Software Engineering at George Mason University; Scotty Hyde, copy editor for thePark City Daily News in Bowling Green, Kentucky; and Melissa Offutt, a sales executive for Sprint in San Diego. Offutt also had five grandchildren, Sam, Steffi, James, Joyce, and Andrew.
Offutt's first story, "And Gone Tomorrow, appeared in the December 1954 issue ofIf.
Offutt began publishing in 1954 with the story "And Gone Tomorrow" in theIf. Despite this early sale, he did not consider his professional life to have begun until he sold the story "Blacksword" toGalaxy in 1959. His first true science fiction novel wasEvil Is Live Spelled Backwards in 1970. Offutt disliked the title of this book, calling it "embarrassingly amateur".
Offutt wrote numerous novels and short stories, including several in the "Thieves World" series edited byRobert Asprin andLynn Abbey, which feature his best known character, the thief, Hanse, also known asShadowspawn (and, later, Chance). His "Iron Lords" series, likewise, was popular. Offutt also wrote two series of books based on characters byRobert E. Howard. There was a series on Howard's best known character,Conan, and another one on the less knownCormac mac Art—an Irish Viking active inKing Arthur's time. In fact, Offutt wrote about him far more extensively than did Howard himself.
As "John Cleve", Offutt also wrote the 19-bookeroticscience fiction series "Spaceways", over half of which were collaborations.
As an editor Offutt produced a series of five anthologies entitledSwords Against Darkness, which included the first professional sale byCharles de Lint. From 1976 to 1978 he served as president of theScience Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
Offutt wrote at least 420 pornographic/erotic works under seventeen different pen-names and house-names, including Opal Andrews, "Anonymous," Joe Brown, John Cleve, Camille Colben, Jack Cory, Jeremy Crebb, P. N. Dedeaux,[4] John Denis, Jeff Douglas, Farrah Fawkes, Baxter Giles, Alan Marshall, Jeff Morehead, J. (John) X. Williams, Turk Winter, and Jeff Woodson.[2][3] The first wasBondage Babes, published under the name Alan Marshall by Greenleaf in 1968; the first appearance of his principal pen name, John Cleve, was onSlave of the Sudan in 1969.[2]
According to his son Chris Offutt he came to regard Cleve as more a separate persona than a pen name, and his other aliases as Cleve's pen names, not his own. As "Cleve" he published more than 130 works of erotica before the market for erotica dried up about 1985; afterwards, turning to self-publishing, he issued 260 more as Turk Winter (an early "Cleve" pen name) over the next twenty-five years. Thirty more remained unpublished at the time of his death. So prolific was Offutt in this area that in summing up his writing career his son Chris wrote that he "came to understand that my father had passed as a science-fiction writer while actually pursuing a 50-year career as a pornographer."[2]