Occupation Novelist Name James Sallis Nationality American Role Writer | Period 1970–present Movies Drive Genre Crime fiction Siblings John Sallis | |
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Born December 21, 1944 (age 79)
Helena, Arkansas, U.S. ( 1944-12-21 ) Nominations Nebula Award for Best Short Story Books The long‑legged fly, Others of My Kind, The Killer Is Dying, Drive, Eye of the cricket Similar People Hossein Amini, Nicolas Winding Refn, Albert Brooks, Newton Thomas Sigel, Cliff Martinez | ||
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James Sallis (born December 21, 1944) is an American crime writer, poet, critic, musicologist and musician, best known for his series of novels featuring the detective character Lew Griffin and set in New Orleans, and for his 2005 novel Drive, which was adapted into a 2011 film of the same name.
Contents
Sallis began writing science fiction for magazines in the late 1960s. Having sold several stories to Damon Knight for his Orbit series of anthologies, and a story to Michael Moorcock by the time he was in his mid-twenties, Sallis was then invited to go to London to help edit New Worlds just as it changed to its large format during its Michael Moorcock-directed New Wave SF phase; Sallis published his first sf story, "Kazoo" there in 1967 and was co-editor from April 1968 through Feb 1969. His clearly acknowledged models in the French avant-garde and the gnomic brevity of much of his work limited his appeal in the science fiction world, though he received some critical acclaim for A Few Last Words (collection, 1970).
Later short work (uncollected until Time's Hammers) appeared in the USA through the 1970s and 1980s.
He is the brother of philosopher John Sallis.
Career
Sallis has worked as a creative writing teacher, respiratory therapist, musician, music teacher, screenwriter, periodical editor, book reviewer, and translator, winning acclaim for his 1993 version of Raymond Queneau's Saint Glinglin. Trained as a respiratory therapist, Sallis worked in intensive care for both adults and newborns at many hospitals. He taught writing classes at Otis College in Los Angeles and until September 2015 at Phoenix College in Arizona; he left his job rather than sign a state-mandated loyalty oath that he regards as unconstitutional.