Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American science fiction/fantasy author and editor. After serving in Korea, he attended Columbia University. He was a copywriter for some years before writing full-time.
Carter is known for his Jandar of Callisto book series that was an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, and his sword and sorcery Thongor the Barbarian series. With L. Sprague de Camp, he compiled several books of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales; finishing and extending many of them, and also writing pastiche novels and short stories.
Carter was also a fantasy anthologist of note (the Flashing Swords series), and, as an editor for Ballantine Books, brought several obscure yet important books of fantasy back into print, including works by Lord Dunsany, James Branch Cabell, William Morris, and Evangeline Walton. He smoked and drank heavily and, consequently, died of throat cancer in 1988.
Carter claimed to be working on an epic literary fantasy work entitled Khymyrium. At least three excerpts were published as separate stories ("Azlon" and "The Mantichore" in 1969 and "The Sword of Power" in 1971). The complete novel never appeared, although Carter continued to make claims for its excellence throughout his lifetime.
Novels:
- Jandar of Callisto, 1972
- Black Legions of Callisto
- The Wizard of Lemuria, 1965
- Thongor of Lemuria, 1966
- Thongor and the Dragon City
- Thongor Against the Gods
- Thongor and the City of the Magicians
- Thongor at the End of Time
- Thongor fights the Pirates of Tarakus
- Black Star, 1976
Anthology:
- Flashing Swords #1, 1973
- The Young Magicians
- Dragons, Elves and Heroes