Avram Davidson (April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993) was a writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many unclassifiable but unforgetable stories that do not fit into a genre niche. He won a Hugo Award and was three time winner of the World Fantasy Award in the science fiction and fantasy genre, and a Queen's Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre. Davidson edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964. April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... The 2005 Hugo Award with base designed by Deb Kosiba. ... First awarded in 1975, the World Fantasy Awards are handed out annually at the World Fantasy Convention (WFC) to recognize outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy. ... The Queens Award for Enterprise is an award for British companies and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. ... The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. ... F&SF April 1971, special Poul Anderson issue. ...

fiction and articles

Davidson wrote many stories for fiction magazines beginning in the 1950s, after publishing his first fiction in Commentary and other Jewish intellectual magazines. He was active in science fiction fandom from his teens. His best-known works are his novels about Vergil Magus, the magician that medieval legend made out of the Roman poet Virgil; the Peregrine novels, a comic view of Europe shortly after the fall of Rome; the Jack Limekiller stories about a Canadian living in an imaginary South American country modelled after Belize during the 1960s, and, perhaps most notable of all, the stories of Dr. Esterhazy, a sort of even-more-erudite Sherlock Holmesian figure living in the mythical Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, the waning fourth-largest empire in Europe. He 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. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... There are several senses for Commentary: Informed criticism. ... A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC (mythical), early 1st millennium BC (archaeological) Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Sherlock Holmes as imagined by the seminal Holmesian artist, Sidney Edward Paget, in The Strand magazine. ... Prester John The legend of Prester John (also Presbyter John), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a mythical Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. ...

Much of Davidson's work was characterised by a great deal of erudite embellishment and asides. Very little may actually happen in a Davidson story, but he enjoyed describing it in enormous detail. Davidson succeeded with this technique because of a good ear for the way that people talk, an encyclopedic store of obscure and fascinating knowledge, and an irresistibly comic view of the world that sees virtually everyone as eccentric.

Stylistically, his stories were often as playful as their plots, including many elements that beginning writers are told to avoid, such as page-long sentences with half a dozen colons and semi-colons, or an irrelevant digression in the opening pages of a story. That Davidson was able to get away with such elements is a tribute in equal measure to his chutzpah and his skill with words and narrative structure.

The idea in his story "Or All the Seas with Oysters" (1958), is reputed to have become part of an 'urban legend' in the street culture of some children; namely, that bicycles arise from a life cycle that involves paper clips as pupae and coat hangers as larvae. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Childrens street culture refers to the cumulative culture of rhymes, songs, jokes, taboos, games, folklore, and places (e. ... This mountain bicycle features oversized tires, a sturdy frame, front shock absorbers, and handlebars oriented perpendicular to the bikes axis Bicycle may also refer to Bicycle Playing Cards. ... Chrysalis of Gulf Fritillary Georgetown, South Carolina A pupa (plural: pupae or pupas) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. ... Larvae are the plural of larva, juvenile form of animals with indirect development. ...

Biography

Davidson served as a US Marine Corps medic in the Pacific during World War II, and began his writing career as a Talmudic scholar around 1950. This made his study of and conversion to Tenrikyo in the 1970s rather surprising. Although he had a reputation for being quick to anger when anyone tampered with his work or misunderstood it, Davidson was also greatly in demand as a storyteller, and well-known among his friends for his extreme generosity. United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... This article is about the title or occupation. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8... The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions of Jewish law, ethics, customs, and stories, which are authoritative in Jewish tradition. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Tenrikyo Headquarters, Tenri Tenrikyo (天理教; Tenrikyō, lit. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

He was also a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. The Swordsmen and Sorcerers Guild of America (SAGA) is the name of a literary group of American fantasy authors active from the 1960s through the 1980s, noted for their contributions to the fantasy subgenre of heroic fantasy or Sword and Sorcery. ... Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy literature which chronicles the tales of heros and their conquests in imaginary lands. ... Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 - February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. ... Flashing Swords #1 Contents: Introduction: Of Swordsmen and Sorcerers by Lin Carter A Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story: The Sadness of the Executioner by Fritz Leiber A tale of The Dying Earth: Morreion by Jack Vance A fantasy of the Vikings: The Mermans Children by Poul Anderson An...

While editing The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction he lived in Mexico, later in Belize. In his later years, he lived in Washington state, including a brief stay in the Veterans' Home in Bremerton. He died in his tiny apartment in Bremerton on May 8, 1993. He was survived by his son Ethan, and his ex-wife Grania Davis, who continues to edit and release his unpublished works. Bremerton is a city located in Kitsap County, Washington. ...

Books

Doctor Eszterhazy series

The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy, Owlswick Press, 1990; includes all of the published Doctor Eszterhazy stories.

Limekiller series

Limekiller, Old Earth Books, 2003; includes all of the published Limekiller stories

Virgil Magus series

The Phoenix and the Mirror, Doubleday, 1969; the first Vergil Magus novel

Vergil in Averno, Doubleday, 1987; the second Vergil Magus novel

The Scarlet Fig; or Slowly through a Land of Stone; Rose Press, 2005, the third Vergil Magus novel

The Other Magus, in Edges, edited by Ursula K. LeGuin and Virginia Kidd, Pocket Books; Berkley paperback, 1980

Vergil and the Caged Bird, Amazing, January 1987

Vergil and the Dukos: Hic Inclusus Vitam Perdit, or The Imitations of the King, Asimov's, September 1997, pp.102-113

Vergil Magus: King without Country, with Michael Swanwick, Asimov's, July 1998,

Peregrene series

Peregrine: Primus, Walker, 1969

Peregrine: Secundus, Berkley paperback, 1981

Novels

Clash of Star-Kings, Ace double, 1966

The Enemy of My Enemy, Berkley paperback, 1966

The Island Under the Earth, Ace paperback, 1969

The Kar-Chee Reign, Ace double, 1966

Masters of the Maze, Pyramid paperback, 1965

Mutiny in Space, Pyramid Books, 1964

Rogue Dragon, Ace paperback, 1966

Rork!, Berkley Medallion paperback, 1965

Ursus of Ultima Thule, Avon paperback, 1973

As Ellery Queen

And on the Eighth Day, Random House, 1964

The Fourth Side of the Triangle, Random House, 1965

With Ward Moore

Joyleg, A Folly, Pyramid paperback, 1962

With Grania Davis

The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil, Tachyon Publications, 1998

Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty, Baen Books paperback, 1987

Quotations

• "Davidson was a fine, fine writer." -- Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. ...

External links

• The Avram Davidson Website
• Avram Davidson: an appreciation of his speculative-fiction work
• Bactra Review - a brief appreciation of Davidson
• Avram Davidson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction. ...

Further reading

• Avram Davidson Treasury: a tribute collection, with an introduction by Guy Davenport. (1998)