Ed Gorman

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Pseudonyms include Richard Driscoll, Chris Shea McCarrick, Daniel Ransom, E.J. Gorman, Edward Gorman Jr. & Robert David Chase
(1941-2016)

“Ed was a helluva writer, one of my favorites, and is sorely missed.”
— Darren Heil

If you’re playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, good luck on pinning anything on Ed Gorman.

He was a writer. Sure. That’s the easy part. But what kind of writer? Novelist? Short story writer? Non-fiction? And what genre? Crime? Western? Horror? Or some unholy combination of all of them?

And even if we narrow it down to crime fiction, what sort? Cosy? Noir? Amateur sleuth? Political thrillers? Cat (*GAK!*) mysteries? Hard-boiled? Even within our tiny sliver of a sub-genre, Ed created several truly memorable private eyes: mild-mannered actor turned gumshoe Jack Dwyer, aging private eye Jack Walsh and lawyer/sleuth Sam McCain, all of them marked by their small town decency.

In 1985,  just as his writing career was beginning to to take off, Gorman co-founded, along with Robert J. Randisi, Mystery Scene Magazine. The legend goes that they came up with the idea over a phone call–both felt the mystery genre needed a magazine that would be to the genre what Locus was to science fiction.

An unrepentant fan of pop and pulp culture, he also wrote stories featuring everyone from Batman and Dick Tracy to Honey West and Philip Marlowe, and his rock’n’roll heart was clearly evidenced in the titles of many of his books and short stories.

He was a regular contributor to EQMM, AHMM, Xero, Mystery Scene and Cemetery Dance, as well as countless anthologies.

But he was also an editor of anthologies, serving up numerous acclaimed and even pivotal collections in the crime and mystery field (we won’t talk about the cat mysteries). But any regular visitor to this site will probably enjoy The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction (1987), The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction (1988), Dark Crimes (1991), Dark Crimes 2: Modern Masters of Noir (1993), American Pulp (1997), The Big Book of Noir (1998) and Pure Pulp (1999)–there’s not a dud in the bunch.

No slouch, in 2000, he even launched the ambitious World’s Finest series of year-end collections, starting with The World’s Finest Mystery And Crime Stories. It lasted, under various titles and two different publishers, ten volumes.

* * * * *

Edward Joseph Gorman was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and ended up spending most of his adult life there as well, although he did live, at various times, in Des Moines, Minneapolis and Chicago, Illinois.

Always a voracious reader, he admits:

“I was the kid in school who always had a science fiction or thriller paperback hidden behind my textbook while class was in session. I was not exactly a gifted student but I did read all the classics (my classics) from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Jack London to Ray Bradbury to Raymond Chandler before I finished high school.”

He spent 20 years in public relations and the advertising industry, pounding out political speeches and producing industrial films, before leaving to write full-time in 1984, keeping the wolf at bay with help from his second wife, Carol’s full-time teaching job). They were married thirty-four years until his death in 2016.

He was incredibly prolific, averaging several novels a year, in addition to a constant stream of short stories, editing anthologies, and founding and editing Mystery Scene (his column, “Gormania,” appeared regularly in its pages for years). He wrote in many genres, particularly crime, mystery, western, and horror. Most of his novels are set in Iowa. His pseudonyms include E.J. Gorman, Daniel Ransom, Edward Gorman Jr., Robert David Chase, and Richard Driscoll.

HUH?

There’s no doubt that Ed was all over the place, writing, editing and being just a great guy,  but one of the more out-there projects he was connected with was The Haunted, the 1986 non-fiction quickie paperback credited to journalist “Robert Curran with Jack & Janet Smurl and Ed & Lorraine Warren.”

The mass market paperback recounted the alleged possession between 1974 and 1989 of the Smurl’s Pennsylvania home by a demon. The self-proclaimed paranormal investigators the Warrens (no doubt smelling Amityville-sized piles of cash) were called in in 1986 to help substantiate the Smurl’s claims–coincidentally the same year (I think) that the book was published.
It inspired a 1991 made-for-TV movie, written by Curran, the Warrens, and the Smurls, and starring Jeffrey DeMunn as Jack Smurl and Sally Kirkland as Janet Smurl. The Warren’s adventures would go on to inspire dozens of television series and feature films, including the Amityville Horror flicks and the equally dubious Conjuring Universe series, none of which have anything to do with Ed.

But in the preface of that 1986 book, there’s a brief note offering  “Special thanks and acknowledgment to Ed Gorman for his work on this book.”

At the time I wrote this, I wondered (aloud) if Ed was ever able to cash in on any of this, or what “work” he did for these guys, but judging from the quality (and extreme dubiousness) of most of these subsequent projects, maybe he wanted it that way. To which Darren Heil on Rare-Avis responded:

Ed wrote the The Haunted based on about 40 pages of notes by Curran, who was (then) a journalist. Ed also wrote the other Warren books written “with” Ed & Lorraine Warren. His pseudonym was Robert David Chase. Regardless of any attribution, Ed wrote everything between the covers–even chapters, forwards, quotes attributed to the Warrens. He was told, “just make it scary.”

NOVELS

  • New Improved Murder (1985; Jack Dwyer)
  • Daddy’s Little Girl (1985; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Roughcut (1985; ; aka “Rough Cut”) Jack Dwyer
  • Toys in the Attic (1986; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Murder in the Wings (1986; Jack Dwyer)
  • The Autumn Dead (1987; Jack Dwyer) | Buy the book | Kindle it!
  • Guild (1987; western)
  • Murder on the Aisle (1987; Tobin)
  • Murder Straight Up (1987; Jack Dwyer)
  • Night Caller (1987; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Several Deaths Later (1988; Tobin)
  • The Forsaken (1988; as Daniel Ransom)
  • The Babysitter (1989; as Daniel Ransom)
  • The Black Moon (1989, with Loren D. Estleman, Robert J. Randisi, Livia J. Washburn & W. R. Philbrick)
  • Blood Game (1989; western)
  • Death Ground (1989; Leo Guild)
  • Nightmare Child (1990; as Daniel Ransom)
  • A Cry of Shadows (1990; Jack Dwyer)
  • Dark Trail (1990; Leo Guild)
  • Night Kills (1990, Minneapoli)
  • Night of Shadows (1990)
  • What the Dead Men Say (1990)
  • The Night Remembers (1991; Jack Walsh) | Buy the book | Kindle it!
  • Star Precinct (1992; as Richard Driscoll, with Kevin D. Randle)
  • Mind Slayer (1992; as Richard Driscoll, with Kevin D. Randle)
  • Inside Job (1992; as Richard Driscoll, with Kevin D. Randle)
  • The Serpent’s Kiss (1992; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Run to Midnight (1992, as Chris Shea McCarrick)
  • Night Kills (1992)
  • The Long Midnight (1993; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Now You See Her (1993, as Chris Shea McCarrick)
  • Wolf Moon (1993)
  • Batman: I, Werewolf (1993; Batman)
  • Shadow Games (1993)
  • The Long Midnighr (1994; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Blood Moon (1994; as Robert Payne; aka “Blood Red Moon)
  • The First Lady (1995)
  • Hawk Moon (1995; as Robert Payne)
  • Th Fugitive Stars (1995; as Daniel Ransom)
  • The Marilyn Tapes (1995; as E.J. Gorman)
  • Cold Blue Midnight (1995)
  • Cage of Night (1996)
  • Shadow Games (1996)
  • Night Screams (1996; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Runner in the Dark (1996)
  • The Zone Soldiers (1996; as Daniel Ransom)
  • Daughter of Darkness (1998)
  • Silver Scream (1998)
  • Black River Falls (1997)
  • Harlot’s Moon (1997; as Robert Payne)
  • Senatorial Privilege (1997; as by E.J. Gorman)
  • Daughter of Darkness (1998; horror)
  • Serpent’s Kiss (1999; as by Daniel Ransom)
  • Grave’s Retreat (1999)
  • The Long Midnight (1999; as by Daniel Ransom)
  • The Poker Club (1999)
  • Storm Riders (1999; western)
  • 16,000 Suspects (1999)
  • The Day the Music Died (1999; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Voodoo Moon (2000; as Robert Payne)
  • Wake Up, Little Suzie (2000; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (2001; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Ghost Town (2001; western)
  • Save the Last Dance For Me (2002; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Rituals (2002; horror)
  • Cast in Dark Waters (2002; with  Thomas Piccirilli)
  • Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool (2002; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Gun Truth (2003)
  • Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (2004; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: City of Night (2005; with Dean Koontz)
  • Fools Rush In (2007; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • Sleeping Dogs (2008; Dev Conrad)
  • Ticket to Ride (2009; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • The Midnight Room (2009)
  • Stranglehold, 2010; Dev Conrad)
  • The Man From Nightshade Valley (2012; with James Reasoner)
  • The Prodigal Gun (2012; with James Reasoner)
  • Blindside (2012; Dev Conrad)
  • Bad Moon Rising (2012; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
  • Flashpoint (2013, Dev Conrad)
  • Riders on the Storm (2014; Sam McCain) | Buy this book | Buy the audio.
  • Fast Track (2014; with Bill Crider)
  • Backshot (2015; noir western) | Buy this book
  • Elimination (2015, Dev Conrad)

SHORT STORIES

  • “Dancers” (1978, The New Review)
  • “My Friend Bobby” (1981, The Coe Review)
  • “False Idols” (1986, Hardboiled #6)
  • “Failed Prayers” (1987, Mystery Scene Reader #1, also 1987, Fedora; Jack Dwyer)
  • “Turn Away” (1987, The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction)
  • “The Alibi” (1988, Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe; Philip Marlowe)
  • “Gunslinger” (1988, The Californians)
  • “The Reason Why” (1988, Criminal Elements; Jack Dwyer)
  • “Dark Muse” (1989, Phantoms)
  • “Idol” (1989, The Further Adventures of Batman; Batman)
  • “My Cousin Cal” (1989, Mr. President, Private Eye)
  • “Prisoners” (1989, New Crimes)
  • “Stalker” (1989, Stalkers)
  • “The Monster” (Spring 1990, Cemetery Dance)
  • “The Curse” (1990, Dick Tracy: The Secret Files; Dick Tracy)
  • “Dance Girl” (1990, New Frontiers, Volume I)
  • “Friends” (1990, New Crimes 2; Jack Walsh)
  • “Mainwaring’s Gift” (1990, Christmas Out West)
  • “The Man in the Long Black Sedan” (1990, Borderlands)
  • “Masque” (1990, Mummy Stories)
  • “The Confession” (1990, Hardboiled #11/12)
  • “Layover” (1991, Cemetery Dance)
  • “The Coming of Night, The Passing of Day” (1991, Masques #4)
  • “Dark Whispers” (1991, Cold Blood)
  • “Deathman” (1991, Dark Crimes)
  • “Duty” (1991, Under the Fang)
  • “Killing Kate” (1991, Obsessions)
  • “Render Unto Caesar” (1991, Pulphouse)
  • “The Wind from Midnight” (1991, The Bradbury Chronicles)
  • “The Reason Why” (1992, Pulphouse; Jack Dwyer)
  • “Bless Us O Lord” (1992, Shivers)
  • “The Long Silence After” (1992, Dark at Heart)
  • “Long Time Till Morning Comes” (1992, Narrow Houses)
  • “Mother Darkness” (1992, Constable New Crimes 1)
  • “Pards” (1992, The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman)
  • “The Ugly File” (1992, The Prisoners and Other Stories)
  • “The Face” (April 1993, F&SF)
  • “Anna and the Snake People” (1993, Malice Domestic 2)
  • “Dreams of Darkness” (1993, Dark Whispers)
  • “A Harlot’s Tears” (1993, The Further Adventures of Batman Volume 3; Batman)
  • “Moonchasers” (1993, Criminal Intent 1)
  • “Hunk” (March 1994, EQMM)
  • “Seasons of the Heart” (August 1994, EQMM)
  • “The Beast in the Woods” (1994, The Mysterious West; aka “The Beast of the Woods”)
  • “Cages” (1994, Earth Strikes Back)
  • “Kinship” (1994, South From Midnight)
  • “The Old Ways” (1994, Tales from the Great Turtle)
  • “Long Lonesome Roads” (1994, Murder for Father; Jack Dwyer)
  • “One of Those Days, One of Those Nights” (1994, Crime Yellow)
  • “Surrogate” (1994, Murder Is My Business; also Winter 1994, Noir)
  • “Out There in the Darkness” (1995, Subterranean; also 1997, Robert Bloch’s Psychos)
  • “The Brasher Girl” (1995, Cages)
  • “The End of It All” (1995, Cages)
  • “The Morning of August 18th” (1995, Cages)
  • “The Moving Coffin” (1995, More Phobias)
  • “Out There in the Darkness” (1995)
  • “Survival” (!995, Cages)
  • “Yesterday’s Dreams” (1995, Cages)
  • “Famous Blue Raincoat” (Summer 1996, Cemetery Dance)
  • “Our Kind of Guy” (July 1996, EQMM)
  • “Favor and the Princess” (Fall 1996, Cemetery Dance)
  • “Heritage” (Fall 1996, Murderous Intent)
  • “The Closing Circle” (November 1996, EQMM)
  • “En Famille” (1996, Moonchasers and Other Stories)
  • “Eye of the Beholder” (1996, The Autumn Dead and A Cry of Shadows; Jack Dwyer)
  • “Junior” (1996, Hardboiled #21)
  • “The Christmas Kitten” (January 1997, EQMM; Cody McCain)
  • “Wake Up, Little Suzie” (1997, Funny Bones; Cody McCain)
  • “Black Sheep” (1998, Mean Time)
  • “The Cage” (1998, Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives)
  • “Yesterday and the Day Before” (1998, Crime Time v2 #1)
  • “The Long Way Back” (April 1999, EQMM)
  • “Anna and the Players” (1999, Chronicles of Crime)
  • “The Poker Club” (1999, Cemetery Dance)
  • “Such a Good Girl” (1999, Subterranean Gallery)
  • “The Way It Used to Be” (2000, Horror Garage #1)
  • “A Gift for Santa Claus” (2000, Hardboiled #25/26)
  • “My Favorite Halloween Memory” (2000, October Dreams)
  • “Heartbreaker” (March 2002, EQMM; Cody McCain)
  • “The Santa Claus Murders” (2003, Crooks, Crimes, & Christmas; Sam McCain) | Buy this book
  • “Riff” (2004, Postscripts)
  • “The Day the Music Died” (2004, Crime Time #38)
  • “Brothers” (March/April 2007, EQMM)
  • “Scream Queen” (2007, Midnight Premiere)
  • “Comeback” (March/April 2009, EQMM)
  • “Tradition” (July 2010, EQMM)
  • “Real Life, Real Death” (September/October 2013; EQMM; with Ricky Sprague)
  • “Calculated Risk” (May 2014, EQMM)

COLLECTIONS

  • Prisoners and Other Stories (1992)
  • The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman (1992)
  • Dark Whispers (1993)
  • Cages (1995)
  • Moonchasers and Other Stories (1996)
  • The Autumn Dead/A Cry of Shadows (1996; Jack Dwyer)
  • Eye of the Beholder and Other Stories (1998)
  • Famous Blue Raincoat (1999)
  • Such a Good Girl and Other Crime Stories (2001)
  • The Dark Fantastic (2001)
  • Different Kinds of Dead and Other Tales (2006)
  • The End of it All and Other Stories (2009)
  • Noir 13 (2010)
  • The Long Ride Back & Other Western Stories (2013)
  • Scream Queen and Other Tales of Menace ( 2014)
  • The Autumn Dead/The Night Remembers (2014; Jack Dwyer/Jack Walsh) | Buy the book
  • Disgrace to the Badge & Other Western Stories (2015)
  • Shadow Games and Other Sinister Stories of Show Business (2016)

ANTHOLOGIES (as editor or co-editor)

  • The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction (1987)
  • The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction (1988)
  • Stalkers: 19 Original Tales By the Masters of Terror (1989; with Dean Koontz)
  • Under the Gun: Mystery Scene Presents the Best Suspense and Mystery (1990; with Robert Randisi & Martin H. Greenberg)
  • Cat Crimes (1991; with Martin H. Greenberg)
  • Dark Crimes (1991)
  • Cat Crimes 2 (1992; with Martin H. Greenberg)
  • Dark Crimes 2: Modern Masters of Noir (1993)
  • American Pulp (1997; with Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini)
  • The Big Book of Noir (1998; with Lee Server & Martin H. Greenberg)
  • Pure Pulp (1999; co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini)
  • The World’s Finest Mystery And Crime Stories: First Annual Collection (2000) | Buy the book
  • The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2: Second Annual Collection (2001) | Buy the book
  • The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 (2002; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4 (2003; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 5: (2004; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • Different Kinds of Dead and Other Tales (2005)
  • The Adventure of the Missing Detective: And 19 of the Year’s finest Crime and Mystery Stories (2005; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • The Widow of Slane: Six More of the Best Crime & Mystery Novellas of the Year! (2006; co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • The Collected Ed Gorman, Volume One: Out There in the Darkness (2007)
  • The Collected Ed Gorman, Volume Two: The Moving Coffin (2007)
  • Wolf Woman Bay and 9 More of the Finest Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year! (2007; co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg) |  
  • The End of It All and Other Stories: The Dark Edge of Ed Gorman (2009)
  • Between the Dark and the Daylight: And 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (2009; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • By Hook or by Crook: And 27 More of the Best Crime + Mystery Stories of the Year (2010; with Martin H. Greenberg) | Buy the book
  • Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre (2016)

TELEVISION & FILM

  • THE HAUNTED
    (2008)
    This made-for-TV flick was based on a book that Ed supposedly contributed to. See “Huh?” above.
  • THE POKER CLUB
    (2008)
    Based on the novel by Ed Gorman
    Teleplay by Richard Chizmar & Johnathon Schaech
    Directed by Tim McCann
    Starring Johnny Messner, Michael Risley, Jana Kramer, Lenny Levi, Olivia Archer, Loren Dean, Bruce Faulk, Judith Hawking, Lori Heuring, Molly Irwin, Chris Kipiniak, Maja Miletich, Judy Reyes, Johnathon Schaech
    You gotta know when to hold ’em, and know how to dispose of a body, when a burglar interrupts your friendly poker game.
  • THE UGLY FILE
    (2009)
    10 minutes
    Based on the 1992 short story by Ed Gorman
    Screenplay by Rick Hautala
    Directed by Mark Steensland
    Music by Savage & Spies
    Starring Mike Lechner, Kirsten McCai, Scott McClelland, Sue Ellen Wojciechowski, Jeff Rodland, Ben Steensland, Alex Steensland,  John A. Rice
    A short but quite effective horror film about a baby photographer with an unusual “gift.”
  • THE LONG SILENCE AFTER | Watch it now!
    (Oct 1, 2008)
    9 minutes
    Based on the 1992 short story by Ed Gorman
    Adapted by John Shane
    Directed by John Shane
    Starring Tiffini Funches as Mary Williams and Duane Sharp as Neely
    Music composed and performed by Steve Halpern
    A sad little vignette (under ten minutes!, drenched with the sort of compassion that Gorman did so well.

COMICS

  • “The Name on My Grave” (1989, The Bank Street Book of Mystery)
  • Kolchak: Dawn of the Demons (2016; with Ricky Sprague; Carl Kolchak)
  • “Gut-Shot” (2016, Scary Tales)
    Based on Gorman’s short story “Stalker,” adapted by Ricky Sprague.
  • “Cage of Night” (2016, Scary Tales)
    Based on Gorman’s novel, adapted by Ricky Sprague.
  • Kolchak: Dawn of the Demons (2020; with Ricky Sprague)

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

 

 

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