(1928-2015) US writer of thrillers and some sf, who began publishing the latter with "First Man in a Satellite" for Super-Science Fiction in December 1958; sixteen further short sf/fantasy stories followed, chiefly for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His first sf novel Pig World (1971) depicts a Near-Future USA governed by a right-wing tyranny challenged by a vicious would-be demagogue. Soulmate (April 1970 F&SF; exp 1974) is a novel of possession (see Horror in SF), the victim being a young prostitute. I, Weapon (1974) features much violence and Sex involving Aliens. Runyon's sf tends to be action-filled, without extensive displacement or speculative content.
Runyon was one of several sf authors who ghosted paperback-original thrillers under the Ellery Queen byline. [JC/DRL]
Charles West Runyon
born Sheridan, Missouri: 4 June 1928
died Cedar Park, Texas: 8 June 2015
works (selected)
- Pig World (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971) [hb/Jan Faust]
- Ames Holbrook, Deity (New York: Curtis Books, 1972) [pb/Jack Faragasso]
- Soulmate (New York: Avon Books, 1974) [short version first appeared April 1970 F&SF: pb/]
- I, Weapon (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1974) [hb/Richard Mantell]
nonfantastic as by Ellery Queen
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