Book takes on sci-fi author Roger Zelazny

SANDUSKY — Science fiction writer Roger Zelazny, a Cleveland native, burst upon the literary scene in the early 1960s, winning almost overnight fame for short stories such as "A Rose for Ecclesiastes." Zelazny's first novel, published in book form as "This Immortal," tied with Frank Herbert's "Dune" for a Hugo Award, science fiction's oldest and most prestigious award. His second and third novels, "The Dream Masters" and "Lord of Light," also won awards and are considered classics. Zelazny soon launched a series of fantasy novels, the "Amber" books, which created its own fandom and secured his popularity. But by the time of Zelazny's untimely death in 1995 at age 58, Zelazny was battling criticism that he had not lived up to his early promise. And as Vermont English professor F. Brett Cox documents in his new book about Zelazny, major new novels by Zelazny in his last years often attracted few reviews. Cox's "Roger Zelazny," just out as part of the University of Illinois Press' "Modern Masters of Science Fiction Series," offers a careful analysis of Zelazny's major works and offers a revisionist reply to Zelazny's naysayers. Referring to the received wisdom, Cox writes, "Cynics might expect such a meteoric rise inevitably to be followed by an equal meteoric fall. What actually happened was more complicated." Cox, Charles A. Dana Professor of English at Norwich University and also a writer and longtime science fiction fan, admits that in Zelazny's later years, "there is no denying the commercial impulses that steered Zelazny's career." Some of Zelazny's fantasy novels were written quickly and apparently aimed at readers happy with undemanding adventure stories. But Cox also argues some of Zelazny's last novels were just as ambitious, and just as good, as his early work. For example, Cox says that "Eye of Cat" may be Zelazny's "most mature novel." Zelazny fans will enjoy comparing their opinions of various Zelazny titles with Cox's opinions, and getting tips from Cox on worthy titles they may have overlooked. Part of the fascination of Zelazny's work is that it could vary widely in quality; "To Die in Italbar," for example, is not exactly an enduring classic, as even Zelazny eventually admitted. But Cox does well in spotting gems the reader might have overlooked, such as "A Night in the Lonesome October," which is narrated by Jack the Ripper's dog and has become a cult title for people seeking Halloween reading. In an interview given a few months before he died, Zelazny listed his five favorites among his own novels as "This Immortal," "Lord of Light," "Doorways in the Sand," "Eye of Cat," and "A Night in Lonesome October." Cox discusses all of these books and analyzes many other worthy titles, including a careful consideration of the "Amber" books. The hardcover of Cox's book is expensive and apparently being marketed to academic libraries, but the paperback and ebook is reasonably priced and affordable for Zelazny fans.