Bill Pronzini
Author of Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural
About the Author
Bill Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California on April 13, 1943. His first novel, The Stalker, was published in 1971. He is best known for his creation of the Nameless Detective Mystery series, as well as several westerns and novels of dark suspense. He has been a full time writer since 1969. He show more is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories. He has won numerous awards including three Shamus Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Mystery Writers of America. His book Snowbound received the Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere, as the best crime novel published in France in 1988. Pronzini has established himself as a master of the Western novel as well as earning a name for himself in the dark fiction genre. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Robin Reese
Series
Works by Bill Pronzini
Bug-Eyed Monsters: 13 Stories of Dripping, Creeping, Gurgling, Purling, Trilling, Oozing, Seeping, Gushing Deadly… (1980) — Editor; Contributor — 66 copies
The Web She Weaves: An Anthology of Mystery and Suspense Stories by Women (1983) — Editor — 52 copies
Chapter and Hearse: Suspense Stories about the World of Books (1985) — Contributor; Editor — 49 copies
The Arbor House Treasury of Detective and Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983) — Editor — 49 copies
The Edgar Winners: 33rd Annual Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America (1980) — Editor — 45 copies
The Mystery Hall of Fame: An Anthology of Classic Mystery and Suspense Stories (1984) — Editor; Contributor — 32 copies
Academy Mystery Novellas: Women Sleuths, Police Procedurals, Locked Room Puzzles, Great British Detectives ( BOX Set) (1985) — Editor; Contributor — 14 copies
The Paradise Affair: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery (Carpenter and Quincannon, 9) (2021) 11 copies
The Western Hall of Fame: An Anthology of Classic Western Stories Selected by the Western Writers of America (1984) — Editor — 10 copies
Tricks and Treats: An Anthology of Mystery Stories by the Mystery Writers of America (1976) — Editor; Contributor — 9 copies
Torture Trek: And Eleven Other Action-Packed Stories of the Wild West (Barricade Classic Western) (1995) 6 copies
Los Mejores Relatos Policiacos Vol. 2 / The Arbor House Treasury of Mistery and Suspense (1981) 6 copies
Inaugural [short story] — Author — 4 copies
Proof of Guilt 3 copies
Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern 3 copies
Dry Spell [short story] 3 copies
The Pulp Connection 3 copies
Skeleton Rattle Your Mouldy Leg 3 copies
Opening a Vein 2 copies
Cache and Carry 2 copies
The Giant book of short Crime Stories — Editor — 2 copies
A Clone at Last 2 copies
How Now Purple Cow [short story] 2 copies
Schau mir in die Augen, Schnüffler. 13 Riesen- Stories. ( Schwarze Serie). (1995) — Editor — 2 copies
The Arrowmont Prison Riddle 2 copies
Death of a Nobody 2 copies
Black Wind 2 copies
Invitation To Murder 1 copy
Souls Burning [short story] 1 copy
Do I Dare to Eat a Peach? 1 copy
Spook Lights Affair — Editor — 1 copy
The Big Bite 1 copy
Memento Mori 1 copy
What Happened to Mary? 1 copy
The Pattern 1 copy
Bedeviled 1 copy
Words Do Not a Book Make 1 copy
Escape [short story] 1 copy
Die Totenuhr 1 copy
The Clincher [short story] 1 copy
Ein ganz besonderes Kaliber 1 copy
Here Comes Santa Claus 1 copy
A Lot On His Mind 1 copy
Nameless Detective series 1 copy
It's a Lousy World 1 copy
Paxton's World 1 copy
On the Nature of Time 1 copy
Possibilities 1 copy
The Pattern 1 copy
Bonecrack 1 copy
In der Kälte der Nacht 1 copy
Teuflische Pläne 1 copy
Gritos na Noite 1 copy
Deathlove [short fiction] 1 copy
I Don't Understand It 1 copy
A Craving for Originality 1 copy
Multiples 1 copy
Putting The Pieces Back 1 copy
Smuggler's Island 1 copy
Under the Skin 1 copy
Caught In The Act 1 copy
His Name Was Legion 1 copy
Rebound 1 copy
Peekaboo 1 copy
Two Weeks Every Summer 1 copy
The Hanging Man 1 copy
Black Lizard 1 copy
Changes 1 copy
Sanctuary 1 copy
The Space Killers 1 copy
The Prophecy 1 copy
Dödens diamanter 1 copy
Associated Works
Murder on the Menu: Cordon Bleu Stories of Crime and Mystery, Volume 1 (1984) — Contributor — 194 copies
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read with the Door Locked (1975) — Contributor — 164 copies
A Century of Great Western Stories-An Anthology of Western Fiction (2000) — Contributor — 104 copies
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense (2006) — Contributor — 72 copies
Murder by the Book: Literary Mysteries from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1995) — Contributor — 67 copies
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: First Annual Collection (2000) — Contributor — 59 copies
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection (2001) — Contributor — 48 copies
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Third Annual Collection (2002) — Contributor — 43 copies
Between the Dark and the Daylight and 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (2009) — Contributor — 42 copies
All but Impossible! An Anthology of Locked Room and Impossible Crime Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of… (1981) — Contributor — 29 copies
The Eyes Have It: The First Private Eye Writers of America Anthology (1984) — Contributor — 16 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: First Annual Edition (1992) — Contributor — 16 copies
Justice for Hire: The Fourth Private Eye Writers of America Anthology (1990) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction November 1978, Vol. 55, No. 5 (1987) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction November 1982, Vol. 63, No. 5 (1982) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Second Annual Edition (1993) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Third Annual Edition (1994) — Contributor — 10 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Seventh Annual Edition (1998) — Contributor — 9 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Fifth Annual Edition (1996) — Contributor — 7 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Sixth Annual Edition (1997) — Contributor — 5 copies
Killers of the Mind: A Collection of Stories by the Mystery Writers of America (1974) — Contributor — 4 copies
Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror (2019) — Contributor — 4 copies
Crimes and Misfortunes: The Anthony Boucher Memorial Anthology of Mysteries — Contributor — 4 copies
Killer Crimes 2 copies
La rivista di Alfred Hitchcock n.6 — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Pronzini, William John
- Other names
- Davis, William Hart
Foxx, Jack
Jeffrey, William
Saxon, Alex - Birthdate
- 1943-04-13
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Petaluma, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Petaluma, California, USA (birth)
- Education
- Santa Rosa Junior College
- Occupations
- detective novelist
anthologist
journalist - Relationships
- Muller, Marcia (wife)
- Organizations
- Petaluma Argus-Courier
- Awards and honors
- Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere (best crime novel - Snowbound ∙ 1988)
Shamus Award (The Eye for Lifetime Achievement ∙ 1987)
MWA Grand Master (2008)
The Eye (Lifetime Achievement Award, PWA 1987) - Short biography
- William John Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California. He has been married three times. The first marriage was with Laura Patricia Adolphson, (1965 to 1967; divorce); the second was with Brunhilde Schier, July 28, 1972 (separated December 1985; divorce a couple years later). He married Marcia Muller (also a mystery writer) in 1992. They have collaborated on three novels: Beyond the Grave (1986), The Lighthouse, (1987); and Double (1984), a Nameless Detective novel, as well as on numerous anthologies. In 1987 he won The Eye, which is the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by The Private Eye Writers of America. It is a more exclusive version of their Shamus Award. He has been nominated three times by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar Award, and received their Grand Master designation in May of 2008.
Members
Discussions
THE DEEP ONES: "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" by Fritz Leiber in The Weird Tradition (April 2016)
Reviews
The End of Summer : Science Fiction of the Fifties… by Barry N. And Bill Pronzini (Ed.) Malzberg
F/SF
A collection of classic horror and thriller tales by some very famous and some not so well known, including some overlooked stories by the famous. The Introduction is by Uncle Stevie, and briefly covers a lot of the same ground as did his non-fiction masterpiece on horror, [Danse Macabre]. The book is worth the price just for this missive on the inner workings of horror literature. Some of the names you'd expect: [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[H. G. Wells]], [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. Others, not so: [[Winston Churchill]] with a thriller about a man overboard; [[Theodore Dreiser]] with a spiritualism tale.
Rather than capture all the stories, I'll hit what I thought were the high points:
The Squaw by [[Bram Stoker]], a tale of revenge from the most unlikely of characters, a cat. While this one has been largely lost to the world, no doubt owing partially to the less than politically correct title, it's chilling.
The Girl with the Hungry Eyes by Fritz Leiber, a vampire of a very different sort, and one that is imminently more frightening than most, especially the sparkly kind so popular these days.
Camps by Jack Dan, a man balances on the edge of death, dreaming of a life he didn't live in a concentration camp.
Sardonicus by Ray Russell, beware what you wish for, as the consequences may outstrip your expectations. A horribly disfigured man coerces a doctor to cure him, but the cure imprisons him beyond his original disfigurement.
The Oblong Room by Edward D. Koch, a police procedural that requires the gumshoe to expand his mind beyond the natural.
The Party by William F. Nolan, a fevered dream that cannot be escaped.
The Crate by Stephen King, this one bears a slight resemblance to [[Douglas Preston]]'s [The Relic]. Here, a man opens a long forgotten crate in a university research laboratory and unleashes a very hungry entity. But the twist here - after the beast eats a couple people, the man's friend realizes its utility in doing away with his shrew of a wife.
Highly Recommended!!!!!
4 1/2 bones!!!!!… (more)
Rather than capture all the stories, I'll hit what I thought were the high points:
The Squaw by [[Bram Stoker]], a tale of revenge from the most unlikely of characters, a cat. While this one has been largely lost to the world, no doubt owing partially to the less than politically correct title, it's chilling.
The Girl with the Hungry Eyes by Fritz Leiber, a vampire of a very different sort, and one that is imminently more frightening than most, especially the sparkly kind so popular these days.
Camps by Jack Dan, a man balances on the edge of death, dreaming of a life he didn't live in a concentration camp.
Sardonicus by Ray Russell, beware what you wish for, as the consequences may outstrip your expectations. A horribly disfigured man coerces a doctor to cure him, but the cure imprisons him beyond his original disfigurement.
The Oblong Room by Edward D. Koch, a police procedural that requires the gumshoe to expand his mind beyond the natural.
The Party by William F. Nolan, a fevered dream that cannot be escaped.
The Crate by Stephen King, this one bears a slight resemblance to [[Douglas Preston]]'s [The Relic]. Here, a man opens a long forgotten crate in a university research laboratory and unleashes a very hungry entity. But the twist here - after the beast eats a couple people, the man's friend realizes its utility in doing away with his shrew of a wife.
Highly Recommended!!!!!
4 1/2 bones!!!!!… (more)
Have you ever seen someone who looked so lonely that you were compelled to approach them? Jim Messenger has. In fact, he was so intrigued by a lonely looking woman at a diner that he follows her home... then embarks on a soul-searching journey across the desert to a town where he's not welcome. And all just to solve the mystery of the lonely woman. This book might be labeled a mystery, but it's more of a relationship book. As in, the relationships we form with strangers and our own loneliness.
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- Works
- 335
- Also by
- 140
- Members
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- Popularity
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- Rating
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- Reviews
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- ISBNs
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