Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 - February 7, 1988) was an American science fiction/fantasy author and editor. After serving in Korea, he attended Columbia University. He was a copywriter for some years before writing full-time.
Carter is known for his Jandar of Callisto book series that was an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, and his sword and sorcery Thongor the Barbarian series. Other series included his "Green Star" and "Prince Zarkon". With L. Sprague de Camp, he compiled several books of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales; finishing and extending many of them, and also writing pastiche novels and short stories.
Carter was also a fantasy anthologist of note (the Flashing Swords series), and, as an editor for Ballantine Books, brought several obscure yet important books of fantasy back into print under the "Adult Fantasy" line, including works by Lord Dunsany, James Branch Cabell, William Morris, and Evangeline Walton, as well as new anthologies he edited himself. He would later edit the first six volumes of the Year's Best Fantasy series for DAW books.
He smoked and drank heavily and, consequently, died of throat cancer in 1988.
Carter claimed to be working on an epic literary fantasy work entitled Khymyrium. At least three excerpts were published as separate stories ("Azlon" and "The Mantichore" in 1969 and "The Sword of Power" in 1971). The complete novel never appeared, although Carter continued to make claims for its excellence throughout his lifetime.
Wildside Press has begun an extensive program returning much of Carter's fiction to print.
Novels:
The Adventures of Eric Carstairs in Zanthodon
- Journey to the Underground World (1979)
- Zanthodon (1980)
- Hurok of the Stone Age (1981)
- Darya of the Bronze Age (1981)
- Eric of Zanthodon (1982)
Callisto
- Jandar of Callisto (1972)
- Black Legion of Callisto (1972)
- Sky Pirates of Callisto (1973)
- Mad Empress of Callisto (1975)
- Mind Wizards of Callisto (1975)
- Lankar of Callisto (1975)
- Ylana of Callisto (1977)
- Renegade of Callisto (1978)
The Chronicles of Kylix
- The Quest of the Kadji (1971)
- The Wizard of Zao (1978)
Gondwane
- The Warrior of World's End (1974)
- The Enchantress of World's End (1975)
- The Immortal of World's End (1976)
- The Barbarian of World's End (1977)
- The Pirate of World's End (1978)
- Giant of World's End (1969)
The Green Star
- Under the Green Star (1972)
- When the Green Star Calls (1973)
- By the Light of the Green Star (1974)
- As the Green Star Rises (1975)
- In the Green Star's Glow (1976)
Hautley Quicksilver
- The Thief of Thoth (1968)
- The Purloined Planet (1969)
The History of the Great Imperium
- Outworlder (1971)
- The Man Without a Planet (1966)
- Star Rogue (1970)
The Mysteries of Mars
- The Valley Where Time Stood Still (1974)
- The City Outside the World (1977)
- Down to a Sunless Sea (1984)
- The Man Who Loved Mars (1973)
Terra Magica
- Kesrick (1982)
- Dragonrouge: An Adult Fantasy (1984)
- Mandrigardo (1987)
- Callipygia (1988)
Thongor
- The Wizard of Lemuria (1965)
- Thongor and The Wizard of Lemuria (1969) [exp. of The Wizard of Lemuria]
- Thongor of Lemuria (1966)
- Thongor and the Dragon City (1970) [exp. of Thongor of Lemuria]
- Thongor Against the Gods (1967)
- Thongor in the City of Magicians (1968)
- Thongor at the End of Time (1968)
- Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)
Zarkon-Lord of the Unknown
- The Nemesis of Evil (1975)
- Invisible Death (1975)
- The Volcano Ogre (1976)
- The Earth-Shaker (1982)
- Horror Wears Blue (1987)
Other works
- Beyond the Gates of Dream (1969) [C]
- The Black Star (1973)
- Dreams from R'lyeh (Arkham, 1975) [C] [poetry]
- The Flame of Iridar (1967)
- Found Wanting (1985)
- Kellory the Warlock (1984)
- Lost World of Time (1969)
- Lost Worlds (1980) [C]
- The Star Magicians (1966)
- Tara of the Twilight (1979)
- Time War (1974)
- Tower at the Edge of Time (1968)
- Tower of the Medusa (1969)
Collaborations:
with L. Sprague de Camp
- Conan of the Isles (1968)
- Conan the Buccaneer (1971)
- Conan of Aquilonia (1977)
- Conan the Liberator (1979)
with L. Sprgue de Camp and Bjorn Nyboug
- Conan the Swordsman (1978)
with Robert E. Howard
- King Kull (1967) [= Kull]
with Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp
- Conan (1967)
- Conan of Cimmeria (1969) [O/2N+ Conan the Freebooter (Howard & de Camp);= The Conan Chronicles (1989)]
- Conan the Wanderer (1968) [O/N+ Conan the Adventurer (Howard & de Camp) + Conan the Buccaneer (Carter & de Camp);= The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990)]
with Donald Wollheim writing as David Grinnell
- Destination Saturn (1967)
Non-fiction:
- Tolkein: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings (1969)
- Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos (1972)
- Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy (1973)
- Middle Earth: The World of Tolkein (1977)
- The World of Tolkein Illustrated (Centaur, 1978)
Edited:
- Flashing Swords! #1, 1973
- Flashing Swords! #2, 1973
- Flashing Swords! #3: Warriors and Wizards, 1976
- Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians, 1977
- Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers, 1977
- Dragons, Elves and Heroes, 1969 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- The Young Magicians, 1969 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Golden Cities, Far, 1970 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- New Worlds for Old, 1971 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- The Spawn of Cthulhu, 1971 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Discoveries in Fantasy, 1972 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy I, 1972 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy II, 1973 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Imaginary Worlds, 1973 (Ballantine Adult Fantasy)
- Weird Tales: 1 (1981)
- Weird Tales: 2 (1981)
- Weird Tales: 3 (1981)
- Weird Tales: 4 (1983)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories (1975)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 2 (1976)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 3 (1977)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4 (1978)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 5 (1980)
- The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6 (1980)