Al Sarrantonio


Al Sarrantonio was an American horror and science fiction writer, editor, and publisher who authored more than 50 books and 90 short stories. He also edited numerous anthologies.

Background and education

Sarrantonio was born in New York City on May 25, 1952, and grew up on Long Island. He was of Italian and Scots-Irish descent. He began his career at the age of 16 with a nonfiction appearance in one of editor Ray Palmer's publications. He continued to write throughout university, and in 1974, after graduation from Manhattan College with a B.A. in English, he attended the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop at Michigan State University.
Sarrantonio died on January 27, 2025, at the age of 72.

Career

In 1976 Sarrantonio began an editing career at a major New York publishing house. His first short fiction, "Ahead of the Joneses," appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1979, followed by a story in Heavy Metal magazine the following year. In 1980 he published 14 short stories. In 1982, after leaving publishing to become a full-time writer, he began his first novel, The Worms, followed by Campbell Wood, Totentanz and The Boy with Penny Eyes. He established himself in the horror field with such much-anthologized stories as "Pumpkin Head", "The Man With Legs", "Father Dear," "Wish", and "Richard's Head,". "Richard's Head" brought him his first Bram Stoker Award nomination.
Sarrantonio was writing a horror saga revolving around Halloween, which takes place in the fictional upstate New York town of Orangefield. Other horror novels include Moonbane, October, House Haunted and Skeletons. He has also written Westerns, mysteries and science fiction.
Sarrantonio was book reviewer for Night Cry magazine, the short-lived digest-sized offshoot of the Twilight Zone Magazine, and had been a critic and columnist for other publications.

Select awards and honors

Select bibliography

Novels

  • Underground
  • Sisters in Mystery
  • Summer Cool
  • Kitt Peak
  • Skeletons Skeletons
  • House Haunted
  • West Texas
  • October
  • Moonbane
  • Cold Night
  • The Boy with Penny Eyes
  • Totentanz
  • Campbell Wood
  • ''The Worms''

    The Orangefield Cycle

  • "Orange Lake", Impossible Monsters, edited by Kasey Lansdale
  • "All Souls Day"
  • Halloweenland - A novel length book that includes elements of The Baby and much more new material.
  • Horrorween - A retelling of "Hornets," The Pumpkin Boy, and Orangefield.
  • The Baby - A limited edition novelette
  • The Pumpkin Boy - A limited edition novelette
  • Hallows Eve
  • Orangefield
  • "Hornets"

    The "Five Worlds" science fiction trilogy

  • Return
  • Journey
  • ''Exile''

    The "Masters of Mars" science fiction trilogy

  • Masters of Mars
  • Queen of Mars
  • Sebastian of Mars
  • ''Haydn of Mars''

    Babylon 5 series

  • ''Babylon 5: Personal Agendas''

    Short story collections

  • Halloween and Other Seasons. Includes:
  • Hornets and Others. Includes:
  • A Little Yellow Book of Fevered Stories. Includes:
  • Toybox. Includes:

    Anthologies containing stories by Sarrantonio

  • Chrysalis 7, edited by Roy Torgeson. Contains the short story, "The Artist in the Small Room Above"
  • Chrysalis 9, edited by Roy Torgeson. Contains the short story, "That They Be Saved"
  • Shadows 4 edited By Charles L. Grant.. Includes the short story, "Under My Bed"
  • Shadows 5 edited By Charles L. Grant.. Includes the short story, "Boxes"
  • Shadows 6 edited By Charles L. Grant.. Includes the short story, "The Man With Legs"
  • Weirdbook 18, published by W. Paul Ganley, 1983. Includes the short story "The Quiet Ones"
  • Shadows 8 edited By Charles L. Grant.. Includes the short story, "Wish"
  • Shadows 10 edited By Charles L. Grant.. Includes the short story, "Pigs"
  • Weirdbook 23/24, published by W. Paul Ganley, 1988. Includes the short story, "The Red Wind"
  • Stalkers, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg.. Includes the short story, "Children of Cain"
  • Razored Saddles edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Pat LoBrutto.. Includes the short story, "Trail of the Chromium Bandits"
  • Under the Fang, edited by Robert R. McCammon. Includes the short story "Red Eve"
  • Bruce Coville's Book of Spine Tinglers: Tales to Make You Shiver, edited by Bruce Coville. Includes the short story, "Letters From Camp"
  • The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, edited by Mike Ashley.. Includes the short story, "The Return of Mad Santa"
  • Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas edited by Richard Chizmar.. Includes the short story "Hornets"
  • Shivers, edited by Richard Chizmar.. Includes the short story, "The Green Face"
  • The Ultimate Halloween, edited by Marvin Kaye.. Includes the short story, "Pumpkin Head"
  • Shivers II, edited by Richard Chizmar. Includes the short story, "The New Kid"
  • Shivers III, edited by Richard Chizmar. Includes the short story, "Hedges"
  • Quietly Now, edited by Kealan Patrick Burke. Includes the short story, "Dust"
  • Retro-Pulp Tales, edited by Joe R. Lansdale. Includes the short story, "Summer"
  • Shivers IV, edited by Richard Chizmar. Includes the short story, "The Man in the Other Car"
  • Midnight Premiere, edited by Tom Piccirilli. Includes the short story, "Baby Boss and the Underground Hamsters"
  • Shivers V, edited by Richard Chizmar. Includes the short story "Cookies"
  • Cemetery Dance: a Fifteen Year Celebration, edited by Richard Chizmar.. May include the short story, "Landing Earl"
  • Shivers VI, edited by Richard Chizmar. Includes the short story "Last"
  • Impossible Monsters, edited by Kasey Lansdale. Includes the Orangefield novelette "Orange Lake"

    Books edited by Sarrantonio

  • Portents - signed original anthology published in 2011.
  • Stories - co-edited with Neil Gaiman. Published June 2010.
  • Halloween: New Poems
  • Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy. Includes his short story "Sleepover."
  • Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction
  • 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense
  • 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories
  • The National Lampoon Treasury of Humor
  • The Fireside Treasury of New Humor
  • ''The Fireside Treasury of Great Humor''

    Magazine appearances

  • Cemetery Dance, #46. Features the short story "Eels."
  • Cemetery Dance, #35, 2001. Features the short story "Violets."
  • Cemetery Dance, #22 Winter 1995. Features the short story "Garden of Eden."
  • Cemetery Dance, #4 Spring 1990. Features the short story "The Meek."
  • Spiderwebs, Volume 1, Number 2; Spring 1982. Contains the short story "Sherlocks."
  • Fantasy Book, #3; February 1982. Contains the short story "The Return of Mad Santa."
  • Analog Science Fiction and Fact Volume 101 #13; December 1981. Features the short story "There is a Home."
  • Heavy Metal May 1979. Features the short story "Roger in the Womb."
  • Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Volume 3 #3; March 1979. Features the short story "Ahead of the Joneses."

    Comic book adaptations

  • Cemetery Dance Presents: Grave Tales issue #2. Features "The Corn Dolly" adapted by Glenn Chadbourne.
  • Weird Business edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Richard Klaw. Features "The Man with Legs."