Randall Garrett

Randall Garrett (Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett) was an American sci-fi, mystery, and fantasy author. Garrett was a founding member of the Futurians, a group of science fiction fans and writers who played a significant role in the genre development.

Randall Garrett was born in Lexington, Missouri. His educational background is not well-documented. Garrett began his writing career in the 1940s but did not gain wide recognition until the 1950s.

He debuted with the short story The Lord of the Thunder. One of the leading science fiction magazines of the time, Astounding Science Fiction, published it in 1946.

Garrett published many more stories in Astounding and other science fiction magazines and quickly gained a reputation as a talented author.

One of Garrett's most famous works is the Lord Darcy series of alternate history detective stories. He began writing the series in 1953. The first story, The Eyes Have It, was published in Fantastic Universe magazine in 1964.

The Lord Darcy series takes place in a world where magic is real and widely practiced. The stories follow the adventures of detective Lord Darcy as he investigates crimes using not only deductive skills but also magical powers. The Lord Darcy stories are considered a classic of the fantasy detective genre.

Another popular series of science fiction novels, The Gandalara Cycle, was co-written with his wife, Vicki Ann Heydron. The series follows the adventures of a man named Rikardon, who wakes up on an alien planet with no memory of his past life.

During his life, Randall Garrett wrote under various pseudonyms, including Gordon Randall Garrett, Gordon Aghill, Grandal Barretton, Alexander Blade, Ralph Burke, Gordon Garrett, David Gordon, Richard Greer, Ivar Jorgenson, Darrel T. Langart, Blake MacKenzie, Jonathan Blake MacKenzie, Seaton Mckettrig, Clyde (T.) Mitchell, Mark Phillips (with Laurence Janifer), Robert Randall, Leonard G. Spencer, S.M. Tenneshaw, Gerald Vance.

Randall Garrett collaborated with his friend Robert Silverberg on two novels: The Shrouded Planet (1957) and The Dawning Light (1959). Garrett also instructed Silverberg in selling large quantities of action-adventure sci-fi.

Randall Garrett received several literary awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards. The first Hugo Award he got for The Long Way Home in 1961. He also won Jupiter Award for Best Novel in 1974 for Too Many Magicians (part of the Lord Darcy series).

In 1999, Randall Garrett was posthumously awarded the Sidewise Award for Alternate History Special Achievement Award for the Lord Darcy series.

Randall Garrett died at the age of 63. The cause of his death was difficulties from diabetes, which he had been struggling with for many years.