Sterling Edmund Lanier

Background

Sterling Edmund Lanier was born on December 18, 1927, in New York City, New York, United States, to Priscilla Thorne Taylor and Berwick Bruce Lanier.

Education

Lanier graduated from Harvard University as a Bachelor of Arts in 1951. He was trained as an anthropologist and archaeologist there. Lanier also attended University of Pennsylvania from 1953 to 1958.

Career

As the author of works that are most often a blend of fantasy and science fiction, critics have praised Sterling Lanier for his storytelling abilities. His most common themes are war, nuclear holocaust, the environment and nature, and the eternal quest for knowledge. The author also uses elements from medieval romances in his stories. In other genres, Lanier has authored children’s book and two collections of short stories that parody Victorian tall tales.

One of Lanier’s first book was Hiero’s Journey (1973), a post-nuclear holocaust tale set in the Metz Republic of Kanda (Canada). Subtitled “A Romance of the Future,” the story follows the exploits of Per Hiero Desteen, who works against the “Unclean”—a group of evil, radiation-scarred scientists who caused the nuclear holocaust and who are trying to rule the world.

A Publishers Weekly critic found much to commend in Hiero's Journey, asserting that Lanier “has created his unique milieu with loving care ... and drives his anti-technology message home without preaching.”

A sequel, The Unforsaken Hiero (1983), was anticipated by Lanier’s readers to reveal Hiero’s fate. In the sequel, Hiero, now married to Luchare, is kidnapped by the Unclean, who neutralize his telepathic powers. His escape and resulting travels conclude with a battle between the good forces of the Metz and the evil Unclean.

Lanier’s two short-story collections chronicle the adventures of a retired English soldier, Brigadier Ffellowes. As narrated by Ffellowes in the comfort of his men’s club, the stories parody Victorian tall tales that use the device of a story within a story within a story. Lanier fills these sketches with fanciful monsters and supernatural powers. The collection The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes, with the exception of one previously unpublished story, made up of stories originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 1986 Lanier expanded on this series of stories with The Curious Quests of Brigadier Ffellowes.

As a sculptor, Lanier specialized in miniatures, among which were a series featuring characters from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Before he became a full-time writer and sculptor in 1967, Lanier worked as a research historian at the Winterthur Museum from 1958 to 1960, and as an editor at various publishing companies, including Chilton Books and the Macrae-Smith Company.

Achievements

• Lanier won Charles W. Follett Award in 1970, for his novel The War for the Lot. Lanier’s most notable book is one of his first, Hiero’s Journey (1973). His short story "A Father's Tale" (1974) was a World Fantasy Award nominee.
  
  Lanier was a talented sculptor, some of his miniature sculptures are included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Curious Quests of Brigadier Fellowes

    (The remarkable Brigadier Ffellowes, whose exploits are le...)

    1986
  • The War for the Lot

    (Alec March's grandfather was the owner of an idyllic Conn...)

    1969
  • The Unforsaken Hiero

    (North America 5000 Years after the Death. Part two of Hie...)

    1983
  • Hiero's Journey 1973
  • Menace Under Marswood 1983
  • The peculiar exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes 1971

Personality

Lanier has said that he is often inspired to write while sculpting.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Lanier is at his best when weaving a suspenseful tale, and while his characters lack depth and the plot has often been used before, the world he creates, filled with radiation-induced mutants, ancient, knowing wizards, and fur-covered dwarves, lives fully in the imagination and allows the reader to partake fully in the suspenseful quest." - Lawrence R. Ries

Connections

Lanier married Martha Hanna Pelton in 1961. The couple divorced in 1978. Lanier married Ann Miller McGregor a year later. He is survived by a son and a daughter from the first marriage.

Father:

Berwick Bruce Lanier

Mother:

Priscilla Thorne Taylor

1-st wife:

Martha Hanna Pelton

2-nd wife:

Ann Miller McGregor

References

• St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers
  1995