Dennis Etchison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dennis Etchison
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Etchison at the 2008 World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City.
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| Born | March 30, 1943 Stockton, California |
| Died | May 29, 2019 (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
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Dennis William Etchison (born March 30, 1943 – died May 29, 2019) was an American writer and editor. He was famous for his stories in the fantasy and horror fiction genres. Etchison described his own writing as "dark, depressing, and very focused on how individuals feel in the world."
Famous author Stephen King called Dennis Etchison "one hell of a fiction writer." Many people thought he was "the most original living horror writer in America." While he wrote some novels, his short stories were especially popular with readers and critics. His first collection, The Dark Country (1982), was even chosen as one of the top 100 horror books.
Dennis Etchison won many awards for his work. He won the British Fantasy Award three times for his stories. He also won the World Fantasy Award for books he edited. From 1992 to 1994, he was the President of the Horror Writers Association.
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Early Life and Writing Beginnings
Dennis Etchison was born in Stockton, California. He was an only child. He grew up during World War II, so there were no men in his home for a while. Etchison said he was quite spoiled and spent a lot of time alone as a child. These feelings of being isolated often appeared in his later stories.
When he was young, Etchison loved professional wrestling. He was fascinated by the fights between good and evil. He often went to wrestling shows with his father. He even wrote about wrestling under the name "The Pro" for a magazine called Rampage.
In junior high and high school, Dennis wrote for the school newspaper. He won many essay contests. He discovered the writer Ray Bradbury and tried to write like him at first. Later, he developed his own unique style.
On the last day of his junior year, he started writing his first short story. It was called "Odd Boy Out" and was about teenagers in the woods. He sent it to many science fiction magazines, but they all said no. Then he remembered Ray Bradbury's advice: send your work to the least likely place. So, he sent his story to a magazine called Escapade. A few weeks later, they accepted it and sent him $125!
Working in Film and TV
Dennis Etchison started writing professionally in 1960. He studied film at UCLA in the 1960s. He wrote many movie scripts, but most were never made into films. He wrote scripts based on his own stories and even for famous authors like Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.
In 1983, Stephen King asked Etchison to be a film expert for his book about horror movies, Danse Macabre. In 1984, a radio version of Stephen King's story The Mist was made. It was based on Etchison's script.
Etchison also worked as a writer for the HBO TV show The Hitchhiker in 1985. In 1986, he worked with director John Carpenter to write a script for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.
Etchison had an interesting idea for Halloween 4. He thought that if people tried to forget about the scary character Michael Myers, it would only make him come back stronger. He believed that trying to hide something would ironically bring it back to life.
However, the movie producer, Moustapha Akkad, did not use Etchison's script. Akkad wanted to go "back to the basics" for Halloween 4, and it became a very successful movie.
Writing Stories and Novels
Dennis Etchison's stories appeared in many magazines and books since 1961. These included The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Weirdbook. His stories were also in popular horror collections like Frights and Dark Forces.
His first collection of short stories, The Dark Country, came out in 1982. The main story in the book, also called "The Dark Country," won the World Fantasy Award. It tied with a story by Stephen King! The whole collection also won the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection that year. This was the first time one writer won both major awards for a single work.
Etchison almost had his first story collection published much earlier, in 1971. But the publisher went out of business just before the book was released. He had to wait over ten years for The Dark Country to finally appear.
He published several more story collections after that. One special collection was Talking in the Dark (2001). It included stories that Etchison himself chose as his favorites. He won the British Fantasy Award again for his short stories "The Olympic Runner" (1986) and "The Dog Park" (1994).
Dennis Etchison also wrote novels. He wrote popular books based on movies like Halloween II (1981) and Videodrome (1983). He used the pen name "Jack Martin" for these. His own novels include Darkside (1986) and California Gothic (1995). He also wrote the novel version of John Carpenter's movie The Fog (1980).
Besides writing, Etchison sometimes taught creative writing classes at UCLA.
Editing Books
Dennis Etchison also worked as an editor. He put together collections of stories by different authors, called anthologies. He won two World Fantasy Awards for Best Anthology. These were for MetaHorror (1993) and The Museum of Horrors (2002). He also edited other well-known anthologies like Cutting Edge (1986) and the Masters of Darkness series.
Radio Work
In 2002, Etchison adapted almost 100 episodes of the classic TV show The Twilight Zone for a CBS radio series. These radio shows were later released on audio CDs. He also wrote for the audio series Fangoria's Dreadtime Stories.
Death
Dennis Etchison passed away on May 29, 2019. He was survived by his wife, Kristina.
Awards and Honors
Dennis Etchison was nominated for and won many awards for his writing and editing.
- He won the British Fantasy Award three times for his short stories: "The Dark Country" (1982), "The Olympic Runner" (1987), and "The Dog Park" (1994).
- He won the World Fantasy Award twice for Best Short Fiction for "The Dark Country" (1982) and for Best Anthology for The Museum of Horrors (2002).
- In 2016, he received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. This award honors writers who have made a big impact on the horror genre over their careers.
