McCammon, Robert R
Entry updated 16 January 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1952- ) US author, a prolific contributor to various subgenres of nonfantastic horror [none listed below], though inevitably, at points, some of his tales contain elements of the fantastic (see Horror in SF). He is of sf interest for two novels in particular. Swan Song (1987) is set in Post-Holocaust desolation after a nuclear World War Three and traces – in Kansas, in a Zone ruled according to the precepts of Survivalist Fiction, and in a demolished New York – the consequences of an experiment in induced Evolution, an effect of which being the birth of children with strange Psi Powers. An exceedingly unpleasant town in Texas (see Westerns) is invaded by Aliens in Stinger (1988), one of whom may condemn or save the planet.
After a hiatus from horror, McCammon initiated the Matthew Corbett series beginning with Speaks the Nightbird (2002), historical thrillers [not here listed] with occasional elements of the supernatural. They are increasingly thought of as a work of distinction. [JC]
Robert Rick McCammon
born Birmingham, Alabama: 17 July 1952
works (highly selected)
- Swan Song (New York: Pocket Books, 1987) [pb/Rowena Morrill]
- Stinger (New York: Pocket Books, 1988) [pb/Rowena Morrill]
works as editor
- Under the Fang (Baltimore, Maryland: Borderlands, 1991) with Martin H Greenberg (Greenberg anonymous) [anth: hb/Jill Bauman]
links
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