Jack Ketchum

In 2011, Ketchum received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.

The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is fantasy literature and horror literature. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are horror and splatterpunk. Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner are recorded as an influence. Distinctions recorded are World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, Sitges Film Festival Best Screenplay award, Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction and Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

• Name — Jack Ketchum • Born — 10 November 1946 • Birthplace — Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. • Birth Name — Dallas William Mayr • Died — 24 January 2018 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Education — Emerson College (BA) • Occupation — Writer, filmmaker • Pen Name — Jack Ketchum, Jerzy Livingston • Genre — Horror fiction, thriller, Western fiction, Dark fantasy, Genre fiction • Notable Works — Off Season, The Girl Next Door, Red, The Crossings, and "The Box" (short story) • Awards — Bram Stoker Award (1994), (2000), (2003 twice) World Horror Convention Grand Master Award (2011)

Ketchum was born in Livingston, New Jersey, as the only child to German immigrant parents. His father, Dallas William Mayr (1908–1997), served in the artillery during World War II and his mother, Evelyn Fahner Mayr (1915–1987), was an accountant and office manager. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and later taught at the high-school level in Brookline, Massachusetts, for two years.

A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: '[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing'. He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters. He was also big on Halloween, and his mother, being '[...] pretty good with the sewing machine [...]', ensured young Ketchum had an authentic costume; his favorites were Peter Pan and Superman. Ketchum further expressed an early interest in horror films such as Nosferatu and the classic Universal Monsters such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor. He supported Ketchum's work, just as his work was supported by his own mentor, H. P. Lovecraft. Ketchum's relationship with Bloch lasted until Bloch's death in 1994. Ketchum's parents were the owners of a luncheonette and soda fountain where Jack worked to support his writing, as a short-order cook during the day and a soda jerk after dark. Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency, a pivotal point in his career; his encounter with Miller at his home in the Pacific Palisades is one of the subjects of his memoir in Book of Souls. He also sold articles and stories — both fiction and nonfiction — to various rock 'n roll and men's magazines to supplement his income. His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity. Throughout his life, Ketchum read widely, authors such as Robert Bloch, Charles Bukowski, Jim Harrison, Franz Douskey and Ernest Hemingway. Apart from his experience as a short-story and magazine article writer, reading was the essential tool in influencing Ketchum's craft.

Before Ketchum turned to novel writing, he sold a prolific number of short fiction and articles to magazines. His initial pen name, Jerzy Livingston, came about during this period. Because he often had more than one piece published in a specific magazine, he would use his own name for the first byline and then adopt a pseudonym for the others. He came from Livingston, New Jersey, and at the time, had been reading work by the author Jerzy Kosiński: "I liked the in-joke. Hence, Jerzy Livingston." he explained. One of his best-known characters while writing as Jerzy Livingstone is Stroup, a play on Proust: Stroup, however, had zero understanding of people, even himself. Ketchum refers to Stroup as "[a] boozer. a loser. a homophobe. A highly questionable friend and unreliable lover. Misogynist as hell and for the most part proud of it." Stroup is the exact opposite of Marcel Proust, whom Ketchum calls "[a]rguably the most sensitive writer in history". Stroup appeared in the men's magazine Swank. He was resurrected in the tale "Sheep Meadow Story" that formed part of the book Triage (2001), a collection with Richard Laymon and Edward Lee. His exploits can be found collected in Broken on the Wheel of Sex: The Jerzy Livingston Years (2007).

Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.

• Title — Year — Type — Publisher — Notes • Off Season — 1981 — novel — Ballantine Books • Hide and Seek — 1984 — novel — Ballantine Books • Cover — 1987 — novel — Grand Central Publishing • She Wakes — 1989 — novel — Berkley Publishing Group • The Girl Next Door — 1989 — novel — Grand Central Publishing • Offspring — 1991 — novel — Diamond Books — the sequel to Off Season • Joyride — 1994 — novel — Berkley Publishing Group — released as Road Kill in the U.K. • Stranglehold — 1995 — novel — Berkley Publishing Group — released as Only Child in the U.K. • Red — 1995 — novel — Headline Book Publishing • Ladies' Night — 1997 — novel — Silver Salamander Press — reworked from unpublished Ballantine release • The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard — 1998 — collection — Obsidian Books — short story collection • Right to Life — 1998 — novella — Cemetery Dance Publications • The Lost — 2001 — novel — Leisure Books • Peaceable Kingdom — 2003 — collection — Leisure Books — short story collection • The Crossings — 2003 — novel — Cemetery Dance Publications • Sleep Disorder — 2003 — collection — Gauntlet Press — co-written with Edward Lee • Broken on the Wheel of Sex — 2006 — collection — Overlook Connection Press — stories previously written with the pseudonym Jerzy Livingston • Weed Species — 2006 — novella — Cemetery Dance Publications • Closing Time and Other Stories — 2007 — collection — Gauntlet Press — short story collection • Old Flames — 2008 — novel — Leisure Books • Book of Souls — 2008 — novella — Bloodletting Press • The Woman — 2010 — novel — Leisure Books — co-written with Lucky McKee • I'm Not Sam — 2012 — novel — Sinister Grin Press — co-written with Lucky McKee • Triptych — 2012 — collection — Crossroad Press — collection of plays • Notes from the Cat House — 2013 — collection — Crossroad Press — collection of poems • The Secret Life of Souls — 2016 — novel — Pegasus Books — co-written with Lucky McKee • Gorilla in my Room — 2017 — collection — Cemetery Dance Publications — short story collection

• The Lost (2006) as Teddy Panik • Header (2006) as State Trooper No. 2 • The Girl Next Door (2007) as Carnival worker • Red (2008) as Bartender • Offspring (2009) as Max Joseph

• The Cult of Ichi (2007) • The Making of The Girl Next Door (2007) • Dark Dreamers (2011) • Inside the Plain Brown Wrapping (2013)

Jack Ketchum was recorded at birth as Dallas William Mayr. He also worked under the names Jack Ketchum and Jerzy Livingston. The authorities additionally record the headings Jerzy Livingston and Dallas William Mayr. His recorded language was English. Recorded as novelist, literary agent, screenwriter and writer.