Spur Award, Best Short Fiction (1992) Anthony Award, Best Critical Work, The Fine Art Of Murder (1994) Life Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America International Horror Writers Award
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. (November 2, 1941 – October 14, 2016) was an American writer and short fiction anthologist. He published in almost every genre, but is best known for his work in the crime, mystery, western, and horror fields. His non-fiction work has been published in such publications as The New York Times and Redbook.
Gorman was born and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he spent much of his adult life as well. He lived for extended periods in Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois. He was married twice, first to Catherine Anne Stevens for seven years. He next married Carol Gorman (née Maxwell), an award-winning children's and young adult author. They were married thirty-four years until his death in 2016.
Writing career
After twenty-three years in advertising, public relations, writing political speeches and producing industrial films, Gorman published his first novel Rough Cut (1984). Soon after he quit his day job and dedicated himself to writing full-time (thanks to his wife Carol's full-time teaching job).
Gorman considered himself a genre writer. In the 1970s Gorman won a short story contest sponsored by Charles Scribner & Sons. An editor there suggested he expand his winning story into a mainstream novel, but Gorman gave up after six months, saying, “I was bored out of my mind. I am a genre writer.”
Gorman's novels and stories are often set in small Midwestern towns, such as the fictional Black River Falls, Iowa (the Sam McCain series), or Cedar Rapids, Iowa (The Night Remembers). For his Dev Conrad series, Gorman drew upon his years as a political operative.
Gorman was one of the founders of Mystery Scene magazine, and served as editor and publisher until 2002. His column, “Gormania,” continues to appear regularly in its pages.
In comics, he has written for DC, Dark Horse, and most recently Short, Scary Tales, which will be publishing adaptations of his novel Cage of Night (as Cage of Night) and the short story "Stalker" (as Gut-Shot).
Though Gorman was long considered to be a "prolific" writer, his pace of production slowed markedly after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002; it was incurable but he fought it for 14 years.
His novel The Poker Club was adapted as a film in 2008 by director Tim McCann. His short stories “The Long Silence After” and “The Ugly File” were adapted as short films. In 2016, rights to his novel Cage of Night and short story “Stalker” were bought for adaptation as graphic novels, to be published by Short, Scary Tales.
