Trent Zelazny

Trent Zelazny (born November 28, 1976) is an American author of crime and horror fiction. His work includes To Sleep Gently, Fractal Despondency, The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories, Destination Unknown, Butterfly Potion, Too Late to Call Texas, People Person, and Voiceless. His short story "The House of Happy Mayhem" received an honorable mention in Best Horror of the Year 2009, edited by Ellen Datlow.
Author Neil Gaiman said about Zelazny: "A powerful and good writer...someone who's been through hell and come out, I hope, the other side."
He is the son of Roger Zelazny.

Zelazny started his publishing career in 1999 with two short stories, "Hope Is an Inanimate Desire" and "Harold Asher and His Vomiting Dogs". In 2001 he began to publish more frequently. In 2002 his story "Lovely Day for Beating an Old Guy" was published in the anthology Random Acts of Weirdness, edited by Brian Knight, which was the first piece to attract attention.

Zelazny’s professional debut came with the publication of his short story collection The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories (Fantastic Books: Wilder Publications, 2009), featuring 20 previously published stories and four originals. On July 28, 2014, Black Curtain Press reissued the book with two additional stories, as well as an introduction by Zelazny. Though he had previously sold a novel (Destination Unknown) in 2008, it did not see release until December, 2011.

Zelazny moved to Florida, then took some time away from writing, having developed severe alcoholism, as well as having lost his fiancée to suicide. He then attempted suicide himself, but survived, about which he has repeatedly said he is grateful.

In 2011 he returned with the novella Fractal Despondency (Black Curtain Press, 2011), followed quickly by Shadowboxer, To Sleep Gently, and A Crack in Melancholy Time (Crossroad Press, 2011). His novel Destination Unknown (iBooks) was then finally released.

To Sleep Gently received the 2012 Nightmare Award.

In February 2012, Zelazny wrote his first short play, Not Any Little Girl, which premiered in Santa Fe, New Mexico in late April, 2012. At the same time he penned the short story "Black Whispers" for the shared world anthology World’s Collider, edited by Richard Salter (Nightscape Press). In March, he signed a contract with Nightscape Press for the release of his novella Butterfly Potion, which was released June 30, 2012. Later that same year Black Curtain Press released his novel Too Late to Call Texas on October 31. The novel was then reissued September 24, 2013 with a new cover and an introduction by award-nominated crime and horror author Billie Sue Mosiman. His most recent novel, Voiceless, was released on October 7, 2014 by Evil Jester Press in New York City.

His novelette People Person, released on September 20, 2013 by Black Curtain Press, has been considered by many to be Zelazny's best work to date.

A big movie fan, he also occasionally writes movie "Previews" for the Jean Cocteau Cinema, an independent movie theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico, owned by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin.

In September 2013, Zelazny met Laurel Wilson, and they have been together since. He also has a son from a previous marriage, Corwin Random Zelazny, born June 26, 1996, named after characters from his father's classic The Chronicles of Amber series.

Zelazny cites his biggest influences as those from the pulp era. David Goodis, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, as well as Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Donald E. Westlake, as well as his father, Roger Zelazny, and several of the existentialists, most notably Søren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre. He also commonly acknowledges Jane Lindskold as his greatest mentor.