Editing Avram Davidson

{{short description|American writer (1923-1993)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name         = Avram Davidson
| image        = Avram Davidson.jpg
| pseudonym    = 
| birth_name   = 
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1923|4|23}}
| birth_place  = [[Yonkers, New York]], US
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1993|5|8|1923|4|23}}
| death_place  = [[Bremerton, Washington]], US
| occupation   = Novelist
| citizenship  = 
| education    = 
| alma_mater   = 
| period       = 
| genre        = Science fiction, [[crime fiction]]
| subject      = 
| movement     = 
| notableworks = 
| spouse       = [[Grania Davis]]
| partner      = 
| awards       = [[Edgar Award]]<br/>[[Hugo Award]]<br/>[[World Fantasy Award]]
| signature    = 
| website      = {{URL|http://avramdavidson.org/}}
| portaldisp   = yes
}}
'''Avram Davidson''' (April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993) was an American writer of [[fantasy fiction]], science fiction, and [[crime fiction]], as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche.  He won a [[Hugo Award]] and three [[World Fantasy Award]]s in the science fiction and fantasy genre, a World Fantasy Life Achievement award,<ref>{{cite web|author=World Fantasy Convention |title=Award Winners and Nominees |url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/awardslist.html/ |access-date=February 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201074405/http://worldfantasy.org/awards/awardslist.html |archive-date=December 1, 2010  }}</ref> and an [[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine#Annual awards|''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' short story award]] and an [[Edgar Award]] in the mystery genre. Davidson edited ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' from 1962 to 1964.  His last novel ''[[The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil]]'' was completed by [[Grania Davis]] and was a [[Nebula Award]] finalist in 1998. ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'' says "he is perhaps sf's most explicitly literary author".

==Biography==
Davidson was born in 1923 in [[Yonkers, New York]], to [[Jewish]] parents.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.forward.com/articles/10772/|title= Writing in Four Dimensions: Reconsidering Science-Fiction Writer Avram Davidson|author= Cohen, Joshua|date= May 25, 2007|work= The Jewish Daily Forward|access-date=June 1, 2010}}</ref> He served as a Navy [[hospital corpsman]] (medic) with the [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] in the [[Pacific War|Pacific]] during [[World War II]], and began his writing career as a [[Talmud]]ic scholar around 1950. As reported at the time in the February 20, 1962, Yonkers daily, the ''[[Herald Statesman]]'', Rabbi Arnold Weinberger officiated at his wedding to Miss Grania Kaiman, which took place at the home of [[Damon Knight]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Avram Davidson, Magazine Editor, Marries Hunter College Student|url=http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201962%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201962%20%20Grayscale%20-%201184.pdf|access-date=April 2, 2018|work=newspaper|agency=Herald Statesman|date=February 20, 1962|location=Yonkers, NY|pages=11}}</ref>

This made his conversion to [[Tenrikyo]] in the 1970s unexpected. Although he had a reputation for being quick to anger, Davidson was known among his friends for his generosity. His peripatetic life and career may have been due to a disinclination to finish what he began. His reputation among science fiction and fantasy readers peaked in the 1960s, after which he had a coterie of fans who (as with [[R. A. Lafferty]]) kept his reputation alive, especially after his death.

He was a member of the [[Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America]] (SAGA), a loose-knit group of [[Heroic fantasy|Heroic Fantasy]] authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in [[Lin Carter|Lin Carter's]] ''[[Flashing Swords!]]'' anthologies.

While editing ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' he lived in [[Mexico]], and later in [[British Honduras]] (now renamed [[Belize]]). He lived in a rural district of [[Novato, California|Novato]], in northern [[Marin County, California]], in 1970, but later moved closer to San Francisco. He lived in a small house in [[Sausalito, California|Sausalito]], at the southern end of Marin County next to San Francisco in 1971 and 1972, and it was there fans and friends were welcomed. He worked for a short time in the late 1970s as a creative writing instructor at the [[University of Texas at El Paso]]. In his later years, he lived in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]], including a brief stay in the Veterans' Home in [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]]. He died in his tiny apartment in Bremerton on May 8, 1993, aged 70. A memorial service was held in Gasworks Park in Seattle.

He was survived by his son Ethan and his ex-wife [[Grania Davis]], who continued to edit and release his unpublished works until her own death.

==Fiction and articles==
Davidson wrote many stories for fiction magazines beginning in the 1950s, after publishing his first fiction in ''[[Commentary Magazine|Commentary]]'' and other Jewish intellectual magazines.

Davidson was active in science fiction fandom from his teens. Two of his novels were nominated for a Nebula Award: ''Rogue Dragon'' (1965) and ''Virgil in Averno'' (1987).<ref>https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ch.cgi?501 Retrieved 24 May 2024.</ref> The latter follows ''The Phoenix and the Mirror'' (1969), a sequence about Vergil Magus, the magician that medieval legend made out of the Roman poet [[Virgil]]. Other [[speculative fiction]] includes the Peregrine novels, comic views of Europe shortly after the fall of Rome; the Jack Limekiller stories, about a Canadian living in an imaginary Central American country modelled after [[Belize]] during the 1960s; and the stories of [[Dr. Eszterhazy]], an erudite [[Sherlock Holmes]]ian figure living in the mythical Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, the waning fourth-largest empire in Europe.

Lesser known and uncollected during his lifetime are his mystery stories, which were assembled after his death as ''The Investigations of Avram Davidson''. These mystery stories frequently have a historical setting, and are intricately plotted. In addition, Davidson ghosted two Ellery Queen mysteries, ''And on the Eighth Day'' and ''The Fourth Side of the Triangle,'' and a true crime collection, ''Crimes and Chaos.''

Other noteworthy works are his collaborations. In ''Joyleg, A Folly'', written in collaboration with [[Ward Moore]], a veteran of the [[American Revolutionary War]] (and of the [[Whiskey Rebellion]]) is found alive and very well in the [[Tennessee]] backwoods, having survived over the centuries by daily soaks in whisky of his own making to hilariously face the world of the 1960s. In ''Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty,'' co-written with Grania Davis, the background of Marco Polo's travels in the Mongol Empire is borrowed for an original story. After Davidson's death, Grania Davis also finished ''The Boss in the Wall'', a claustrophobic horror novel that bears little resemblance to the work of any other writer.

Davidson also wrote dozens of short stories that defy classification, and the ''Adventures in Unhistory'' essays, which delve into puzzles such as the identity of [[Prester John]] and suggest solutions to them. His earlier historical essays were scrupulously researched, even when published by magazines just as happy to offer fiction as fact. Later essays were handicapped by a lack of resources in the libraries of the small towns where Davidson lived in the pre-Internet era, but are enlivened by the style and bold speculation.

Davidson's work is marked by a strong interest in history, with his plots often turning on what at first might seem like minor events. His characterization is also unusually in-depth for fantasy, and is often enriched by his ear for unusual accents.

Davidson's most obvious characteristics are his plotting and style. Very little may ''happen'' in a Davidson story, but he described it in detail. Hidden among the detail are facts or omissions that later become important to the outcome of the story. Especially in his later works, Davidson included elements that beginning writers are told to avoid, such as page-long sentences with half a dozen colons and semi-colons, or an apparently irrelevant digression in the opening pages of a story. He expects much from his readers, but delivers much to them.

==Books==
*Kar-Chee series
** ''[https://archive.org/stream/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v029n01_1965-07_PDF/Fantasy__Science_Fiction_v029n01_1965-07_PDF#page/n1/mode/2up Rogue Dragon]'', Ace, 1965
** ''[[The Kar-Chee Reign]]'', Ace Double, 1966
*Vergil Magus series (a [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]] series set an alternate ancient Mediterranean world in which [[Harpy|harpies]], [[basilisk]]s, and [[satyr]]s exist during the [[Punic Wars]])
** ''[[The Phoenix and the Mirror]]'', Doubleday, 1969; issued in 1970 as ''The Phoenix and the Mirror or, The Enigmatic Speculum'' in the [[Ace Science Fiction Specials]] series
**''[[Vergil in Averno]]'',  Doubleday, 1987
** ''[[The Scarlet Fig|The Scarlet Fig; or Slowly through a Land of Stone]]''; Rose Press, 2005
* Peregrine series
** ''[[Peregrine: Primus]]'', Walker, 1971
** ''[[Peregrine: Secundus]]'', Berkley, 1981
* Solo novels not part of a series 
** ''[[Mutiny in Space]]'', Pyramid, 1964
** ''[[Rork!]]'', Berkley, 1965
** ''[[Masters of the Maze (novel)|Masters of the Maze]]'', Pyramid, 1965
** ''[[Clash of Star-Kings]]'', Ace Double, 1966
** ''[[The Enemy of my Enemy (Avram Davison novel)|The Enemy of My Enemy]]'', Berkley, 1966
** ''[[The Island Under the Earth]]'', original to the [[Ace Science Fiction Specials]] series, 1969
** ''[[Ursus of Ultima Thule]]'', Avon, 1973
* With [[Ward Moore]]
** ''[[Joyleg]]'', Pyramid, 1962
* With [[Grania Davis]]
** ''[[Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty]]'', Baen, 1987
** ''[[The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil]]'', [[Tachyon Publications]], 1998
* Collections
** ''[[Or All the Seas with Oysters (collection)|Or All the Seas with Oysters]]'', Berkley, 1962
** ''[[Crimes and Chaos'' (collection)|Crimes and Chaos]], Regency, 1962
** ''[[What Strange Stars and Skies (collection)|What Strange Stars and Skies]]'', Ace, 1965
** ''[[Strange Seas and Shores]]'', Doubleday, 1971
** ''[[The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy]]'', Warner, 1975
** ''[[The Redward Edward Papers]]'', Doubleday, 1978
** ''[[The Best of Avram Davidson]]'', Doubleday, 1979
** ''[[Collected Fantasies (Avram Davidson collection)|Collected Fantasies]]'', Berkley, 1982
** ''[[The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy]]'', Owlswick, 1990
** ''[[Adventures in Unhistory]]'', Owlswick, 1993
** ''[[The Avram Davidson Treasury]]'', Tor, 1998
** ''[[The Investigations of Avram Davidson]]'', Owlswick, 1999 [collected mystery stories]
** ''[[Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven]]'', Devora, 2000
** ''[[The Other Nineteenth Century]]'', Tor, 2001
** ''[[Limekiller! (collection)|¡Limekiller!]]'', [[Old Earth Books]], 2003
* [[Ellery Queen]] books: mysteries written under the Ellery Queen name
** ''[[And on the Eighth Day]]'', Random House, 1964
** ''[[The Fourth Side of the Triangle]]'', Random House, 1965

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Shepard, Lucius |author-link=Lucius Shepard |editor=Sargent, Pamela |title=Nebula Awards 29 |publisher=Harcourt Brace |date=1995 <!--isbn=--> |chapter=Avram Davidson 1923-1993}}
* {{cite journal |author=Shepard, Lucius |author-mask=1 |date=Fall 1996 |title=An appreciation of Avram Davidson |journal=Eidolon }}
* {{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Dan |title=Author Avram Davidson,  A Hidden Yonkers Treasure |url=https://yonkerstimes.com/author-avram-davidson-a-hidden-yonkers-treasure |newspaper=Yonkers Times |date=January 7, 2021}}
* ''Avram Davidson Treasury: A Tribute Collection'', with an introduction by [[Guy Davenport]]. (1998)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.avramdavidson.org Website]
*[http://www.Avramdavidson.com Fan Club]
*[http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/avram-davidsons-afterlife/ Bactra Review] – a brief appreciation of Davidson
*{{isfdb name|id=Avram_Davidson|name=Avram Davidson}}
*[http://www.embiid.com/authors/authors.asp?488972931&P=9&C=0 Biography from Embiid Publishing]
*[https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/davidson_avram Science Fiction Encyclopedia entry]

{{Avram Davidson}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Collection}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Short Fiction}}
{{World Fantasy Award Life Achievement}}
{{Hugo Award Best Short Story 1955–1960}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Avram}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American mystery writers]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Edgar Award winners]]
[[Category:Hugo Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:People from Bremerton, Washington]]
[[Category:Writers from Yonkers, New York]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:American science fiction editors]]
[[Category:Tenrikyo people]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Novelists from Washington (state)]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:People from Novato, California]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from California]]
[[Category:United States Navy corpsmen]]
[[Category:The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people]]