Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter, better known as Lin Carter, was an American fantasy and science fiction author, critic, poet, and editor. Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, and grew up with a fascination for kids’ fantasy novels, eventually moving on to pulp science and fantasy fiction. He attended a cartoonist’s school and served as a clerical typist during the Korean War. Afterward, he attended Columbia University but never graduated, instead choosing to work as a copywriter.

Carter’s writing career spanned over two decades, during which he wrote many books in the sword-and-sorcery and sword-and-planet genres. He is best known for his Thongor the Barbarian series. In addition to writing under his own name, Carter also used pseudonyms such as Grail Undwin and H.P. Lowcraft. As an editor, Carter became well-known in the 1970s for his work with the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which served as an excellent introduction to the fantasy genre classics for many readers. He also edited science fiction and fantasy for Dell and DAW, and wrote several essays and analyses about fantasy and how to become a successful fantasy writer.

Carter was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis for Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers. He was also a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Heroic fantasy authors. Carter is most closely associated with fellow author L. Sprague de Camp, who served as a mentor and collaborator and was a fellow member of both the Trap Door Spiders and SAGA.

Carter served in Korea and attended Columbia University. He worked as a copywriter for some years before writing full-time. He resided in East Orange, New Jersey, in his later years and was known for his heavy drinking and smoking. His smoking may have contributed to his oral cancer in 1985, which was treated with extensive surgery. Despite his success in the last year of his life, with a new book in his Terra Magica series, a long-promised Prince Zarkon pulp hero pastiche, Horror Wears Blue, and a regular column for the magazine Crypt of Cthulhu, Carter’s health continued to decline due to his increased alcohol intake. He died in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1988.