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author, editor, critic
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science fiction
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"Resilience" (1941)
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(
September 19 ,
1922 –
April 15 ,
2002 ) was an
American Science Fiction Author , editor, critic and
Fan .
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine. His first story, "Resilience", was , founder of the
Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Of America (SFWA), cofounder of the
National Fantasy Fan Federation , cofounder of the
Milford Writer's Workshop , and cofounder of the
Clarion Writers Workshop . Knight lived in
Eugene ,
Oregon ,
United States , with his wife
Kate Wilhelm , also a science fiction writer.
At the time of his first story, he was living in is identified as "H. Dreyne Fifer".
In a series of reviews for various magazines, he became famous as a science fiction critic. After nine years, he ceased reviewing when a magazine refused to publish one review exactly as he wrote it. These reviews were later collected in ''In Search of Wonder.''
The SFWA's
Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement was renamed in his honor. Formerly known as the Grand Master Award, Knight received that honor in
1994 .
To the general public, he is best known as the author of "
To Serve Man ", which was adapted for ''
The Twilight Zone ''. He is also known for the term "second-order
Idiot Plot ," a story set in a society that only functions because everyone or almost everyone in it is an idiot. One of Knight's best-known stories, "
The Country Of The Kind " (reprinted in ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One'') describes a future
Utopia in which everyone is peaceful, kindly and honest ... except for a single individual who is compelled to be destructive and abusive, apparently because the society needs such an outsider so as to bolster everyone else's pride in their conformity.
''For the main article, see
Bibliography Of Damon Knight ''.
- ''Hell's Pavement'' (1955)
- ''VOR'' (with James Blish ) (1958)
- ''A is for Anything'' (1959)
- ''Masters of Evolution'' (1959)
- ''The People Maker'' (1959)
- ''The Sun Saboteurs'' (1961)
- ''Beyond the Barrier'' (1964)
- ''Mind Switch'' (1965)
- ''Off Centre'' (1965)
- ''The Rithian Terror'' (1965)
- ''The Earth Quarter'' (1970)
- ''World without Children'' (1970)
- ''The World and Thorinn'' (1980)
- ''The Man in the Tree'' (1984)
- ''CV'' (1985)
- ''The Observers'' (1988)
- ''Double Meaning'' (1991)
- ''God's Nose'' (1991)
- ''Why Do Birds'' (1992)
- ''Humpty Dumpty: An Oval'' (1996)
- ''Not with a Bang'' (1949)
- '' To Serve Man '' (1950)
- ''Ask Me Anything'' (1951)
- ''Cabin Boy'' (1951)
- ''The Analogues'' (1952)
- ''Beachcomber'' (1952)
- ''Ticket to Anywhere'' (1952)
- ''Anachron'' (1953)
- ''Babel II'' (1953)
- ''Four in One'' (1953)
- ''Special Delivery'' (1953)
- ''Rule Golden'' (1954)
- ''The Country of the Kind'' (1955)
- ''You're Another'' (1955)
- ''Extempore'' (1956)
- ''The Last Word'' (1956)
- ''Stranger Station'' (1956)
- ''The Dying Man'' (1957)
- ''The Enemy'' (1957)
- ''An Eye for a What?'' (1957)
- ''Be My Guest'' (1958)
- ''Eripmav'' (1958)
- ''Idiot Stick'' (1958)
- ''Thing of Beauty'' (1958)
- ''The Handler'' (1960)
- ''Time Enough'' (1960)
- ''The Big Pat Boom'' (1963)
- ''God's Nose'' (1964)
- ''Maid to Measure'' (1964)
- ''Shall the Dust Praise Thee?'' (1967)
- ''Masks'' (1968)
- ''I See You'' (1976)
- ''Forever'' (1981)
- ''O'' (1983)
- ''Strangers on Paradise'' (1986)
- ''Not a Creature'' (1993)
- ''Fortyday'' (1994)
- ''Life Edit'' (1996)
- ''Double Meaning''
- ''In the Beginning''
- ''The Futurians'' (memoir/history)
- ''In Search of Wonder'' (collected reviews and critical pieces)
- ''Turning Points'' (editor/contributor: critical anthology)
- '' Orbit (anthology Series) '' (editor)
- "The Big Pat Boom" appears in "The Seventh Galaxy Reader" (ed by Frederik Pohl)
