Howard Waldrop

Howard Waldrop in 2007.

Howard Waldrop (born September 15, 1946, in Houston, Mississippi) is a science fiction author who works primarily in short fiction.

Waldrop's stories combine elements such as alternate history, American popular culture, the American South, old movies (and character actors), classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. His style is sometimes obscure or elliptical. The stories are often considered entertaining: Night of the Cooters is The War of the Worlds told from the perspective of a Texas sheriff (a homage to Slim Pickens); "Heirs of the Perisphere" involves robotic Disney characters waking up in the far future; "Fin de Cyclé" describes the Dreyfus affair from the perspective of bicycle enthusiasts.

Waldrop's work is frequently out of print and sometimes hard to find. Some of his books have been reprinted in omnibus editions.

Several of his stories have been nominated for awards; "The Ugly Chickens" -- about the dodo -- won a Nebula award for best novelette in 1980, and also a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction in 1981. This is perhaps his best known work.

Though born in Mississippi, Waldrop spent most of his life in Texas. He moved to Washington state for several years, but has since returned to Austin. He is an avid fly fisherman. He is a member of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop, has attended the Rio Hondo Writing Workshop, and has taught at the Clarion Workshop. In 2004 he started writing movie reviews with Lawrence Person for Locus Online.

He is a frequent attendee of ArmadilloCon, the local science-fiction convention in Austin. He was the Toastmaster in the very first ArmadilloCon (1979) and again at ArmadilloCon 29 in 2007. He was Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon 5 (1983).

He was one of three writer Guests of Honor at the 1995 World Fantasy Convention held in Baltimore.^[1]

Bibliography

Novels & novellas

• The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 (with Jake Saunders, 1974) (Ballantine, 1986, ISBN 0-345-33994-0)
• Them Bones (Ace, 1984, ISBN 0-441-80557-4)
• A Dozen Tough Jobs (novella) (Mark V Ziesing, 1989, ISBN 0-929480-01-5)
• The Search for Tom Purdue (announced)[1]
• The Moone World (announced)[2]

Short story collections

• Howard Who? (Doubleday, 1986) (2006 reprint from Small Beer Press, ISBN 1-931520-18-6)
• All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past (1987) (Ace, 1991, ISBN 0-441-16069-7)
• Night of the Cooters (1990) (Ace, 1993, ISBN 0-441-57473-4)
• Going Home Again (Eidolon, 1997, ISBN 0-9586864-0-8)
• Dream Factories and Radio Pictures (e-book, 2001 at http://www.electricstory.com; printed form from Wheatland Press 2003)
• Custer's Last Jump and Other Collaborations (Golden Gryphon, 2003, ISBN 1-930846-13-4) (includes Waldrop's collaborations with Steven Utley, Bruce Sterling, Leigh Kennedy, George R. R. Martin, and others.)
• Heart of Whitenesse (Subterranean Press, 2005, ISBN 1-59606-018-2)
• Things Will Never be the Same: Selected Short Fiction 1980 – 2005 ("best of" collection from Old Earth Books, 2007, ISBN 1-882968-36-0, trade paperback; ISBN 1-882968-35-2 for 300 copy limited edition hardcover)^[2]
• Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction 1989-2003 (Old Earth Books, 2008, ISBN 1-882968-38-7, trade paperback; ISBN 1-882968-37-9 for 300 copy limited edition hardcover)^[2]

Short Stories

• Thin, On the Ground included in Cross Plains Universe, MonkeyBrain Books, 2006

Chapbooks

• The Soul-Catcher (1967, self-published)
• You Could Go Home Again (Cheap Street, 1993)
• Custer's Last Jump (with Steven Utley) (Ticonderoga Publications, 1996)
• Flying Saucer Rock and Roll (Cheap Street, 2001)
• A Better World's in Birth! (Golden Gryphon, 2003)
• The Horse of a Different Color (You Rode In On)/The King of Where-I-Go (WSFA Press, 2006); given out to members of the 2005 Capclave (though it was not printed in time to be distributed there), and not available separately

References

1. ^ http://worldfantasy.org/retro.html
2. ^ ^{a b} http://oldearthbooks.com/howard_waldrop.htm

External links

• Howard Waldrop at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• A Woodsman's Guide to Howard Waldrop
• The Ugly Chickens (online at scifi.com)
• Golden Gryphon Press official site - About chapbook A Better World's in Birth!
• Golden Gryphon Press official site - About Custer's Last Jump and Other Collaborations
• ArmadilloCon