S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: SABERHAGEN, Frederick Thomas
Aged: 77
Born: May 18, 1930
Where: Chicago, Illinois
Died: June 29, 2007
Where: Albuquerque, NM
Interred: - - -
Married: Joan Dorothy Spicci
When: 1968
Awards: Dracula Award, Best Novel Inspired by Dracula: The Dracula Tape.
Fred Saberhagen
"Probably all the books I've ever written have
been efforts to define the boundaries of humanity."
Casting about in early life, Fred served four years in the U.S. Air Force (1951-55), and then worked as an electronics technician. He sold his first short story, "Volume PAA-PYX," to Galaxy in 1961 and his first novella, The Golden People, to Ace in 1964. He then worked as an editor/writer for the Encyclopedia Britannica for 5+ years (1967-73) while he continued his writing career. In 1975, Saberhagen decided he could/would live on his earnings as a writer --- with 10 novels published (mostly to Ace or DAW), but among them was the very unique The Dracula Tape (1975) and several Berserker books. He moved to Albuquerque, NM, and joined hundreds of other writers who had done the same, including Roger Zelazny.
Once Saberhagen had determined to become a full-time writer (and what he had in mind took determination), he quickly focused on his ability to conceive a nearly unlimited amount of plot and theme variables ... 12 magic swords (a book each) or a mechanical robot scourge ordered to destroy all life in the Galaxy or horror stories told from the vampire's point of view or what the ancient Gods were all about ... horror, fantasy, SF ... all mixed together in his mind with mega-concepts and only 30 more years to make it all happen. Not many would do that, even among the few who could do that. And, for a very long time, Fred wasn't taken seriously.
Saberhagen's series tended to be linear: First came the Berserker series (the alien destroyers), then the Dracula-Holmes series, with the Swords and the Lost Swords next, followed by the Book of Gods, and finally (surprisingly) a return to the Berserkers series. They over-lapped, of course, but the majority of his writing efforts fell into that time-line. 65 books, more or less, depending on how you keep count of revisions, expansions, and omnibus editions ... and about 50 short stories. He was one of the SF authors who also designed computer games in the 1980s.
The Berserker books vary across a 40 year time period as you would expect and satisfaction depends on individual preferences. Among Saberhagen's notable novels and collections are The Veils of Azlaroc (1978), The Book of Saberhagen (1979 collection), Empire of the East (1979/84 omnibus), Love Conquers All (1979/85), Octagon (1981), Coils (1982 w Roger Zelazny), Century of Progress (1983), Saberhagen: My Best (1987 collection}, Berserker Man (2004 omnibus), and Ardneh's Sword (2006). Notable short stories, in addition to many Berserker tales of quality, were "Masque of the Red Shift" and "Mr. Jester."
"I suspect that writer's block afflicts mainly people who have some stable and
ample source of income outside of writing. So far it hasn't been a problem."
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
OBITUARY: Various
ON-LINE: Berserker/Saberhagen website
