J. N. Williamson

J. N. Williamson (1932-2005) was an American writer and editor of horror, dark fantasy, and gothic fiction, born in Indianapolis, Indiana. A graduate of Butler University, he published his first novel in 1979 and went on to write more than forty novels and over 150 short stories, including the Martin Ruben series and the Lamia Zacharias sequence of Death-Coach and its sequels. He is best remembered for editing the Masques anthology series, a long-running showcase for horror and supernatural short fiction that ran from 1984 into the 2000s and helped define the genre's small-press era. He also edited the nonfiction collection How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, drawing on contributions from figures such as Stephen King. In 2003 the Horror Writers Association gave him its lifetime achievement award.