Christopher Stasheff (1944-2018)

Writer Christopher Stasheff, 74, died June 10, 2018. Stasheff is best known for his long-running Warlock universe, blending SF and fantasy elements, launched with his debut The Warlock in Spite of Himself (1969) and continuing through several sub-series.

Christopher Boris Stasheff was born January 15, 1944 in Mount Vernon NY. He attended the University of Michigan, studying radio and television, and later worked as a production assistant and script supervisor. He did graduate work in television at the University of Nebraska, where he became involved with stage productions and eventually earned a PhD in theater. He taught at Montclair Stage College in New Jersey for 15 years, then relocated with his family to the Midwest where he wrote full-time for over a decade. He then resumed teaching, this time at Eastern New Mexico University, until his retirement in 2009, when he moved to Champaign IL.

After publishing The Warlock in Spite of Himself he continued the series with King Kobold (1969), The Warlock Unlocked (1982), The Warlock Enraged (1985), Escape Velocity (1983), The Warlock Wandering (1986), The Warlock Is Missing (1986), The Warlock Heretical (1987), The Warlock’s Companion (1988), The Warlock Insane (1989), The Warlock Rock (1990), Warlock and Son (1991), and The Warlock’s Last Ride (2004). The spin-off Rogue Wizard series is A Wizard in Bedlam (1979), A Wizard in Absentia (1993), A Wizard in Mind (1995), A Wizard in War (1995), A Wizard in Peace (1996), A Wizard in Chaos (1997), A Wizard in Midgard (1998), A Wizard and a Warlord (2000), A Wizard in the Way (2000), A Wizard in a Feud (2001). The A Wizard in Rhyme spin-off has Her Majesty’s Wizard (1986), The Oathbound Wizard (1993), The Witch Doctor (1994), The Secular Wizard (1995), My Son, The Wizard (1997), The Haunted Wizard (2000), The Crusading Wizard (2000), and The Feline Wizard (2000). The Warlock’s Heirs sub-series is M’Lady Witch (1994), Quicksilver’s Knight (1995), The Spell-Bound Scholar (1999), and Here Be Monsters (2001). The related Star tone series has The Shaman (1995) and The Sage (1996).

Other works include the theatrical SF Starship Troupers series, with A Company of Stars (1991), We Open on Venus (1994), and A Slight Detour (1995). He also wrote standalone light fantasy mystery Saint Vidicon to the Rescue (2005). Some of his short work is collected in Mind Out of Time (2003). He co-edited the shared world Crafter series with Bill Fawcett in anthologies The Crafters (1991) and Bellsings and Curses (1992). Other anthologies edited include The Gods of War (1992), Dragon’s Eye (1994), and The Day the Magic Stopped (1995, with Fawcett). Stasheff also wrote some tie-in novels.

Stasheff is survived by his wife, Mary Miller, and their four children.