Robert R. McCammon

Robert Rick McCammon (born July 17, 1952) is an American novelist from Birmingham, Alabama. One of the influential names in the late 1970s–early 1990s American horror literature boom, by 1991 McCammon had three New York Times bestsellers (The Wolf's Hour, Stinger, and Swan Song) and around 5 million books in print.^[1][2] Since 2002 he's written several books in a historical mystery series featuring an 18th-century magistrate’s clerk, Matthew Corbett, as he unravels mysteries in colonial America.

His parents are Jack, a musician, and Barbara Bundy McCammon. After his parents' divorce, McCammon lived with his grandparents in Birmingham. He received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Alabama in 1974. McCammon lives in Birmingham.^[3] He has a daughter, Skye, with his former wife, Sally Sanders.

McCammon has published multiple award-winning books, including Mine in 1990 and Boy's Life in 1991.^[4] After the release of Gone South, McCammon chose to leave his publisher. After clashing with an editor at a new publisher over the direction for his historical fiction novel Speaks the Nightbird, he retired from writing. After a long hiatus which resulted from the reorganization of the publishing industry and McCammon's personal depression and soul searching,^[5] he returned to the publishing world with Speaks the Nightbird, the first book in the Matthew Corbett series.^[6] Publishers Weekly called it a "compulsively readable yarn," and said, "McCammon's loyal fans will find his resurfacing reason to rejoice." Since 2002, fourteen new books have been published, including eight, so far, in the Matthew Corbett series.

In 1985, McCammon's story "Nightcrawlers" was adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone (1985).^[3]

After years out-of-print, Baal, Bethany's Sin, The Night Boat, and They Thirst were re-released by Subterranean Press as limited edition novels. In a 2013 interview, McCammon acknowledged that some readers would like to have a complete collection of his work, and said "reading back over those books I find they’re not as poorly written as I recall them to be."^[3]

• Baal (1978)
• Bethany's Sin (1980) – second published novel, but actually third written
• The Night Boat (1980) – third published novel, but actually second written
• They Thirst (1981)
• Mystery Walk (1983) – first novel published in hardcover
• Usher's Passing (1984) – Winner of the 1985 Alabama Library Association Alabama Author Award
• Swan Song (1987) – Co-winner of the 1987 Bram Stoker Award^[7] and nominated for the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel;^[4] the first of his novels to appear on the New York Times Bestseller List
• Stinger (1988) – Nominated for the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel; New York Times Bestseller
• Blue World (1990) – Short Story Collection; Nominated for the 1989 Bram Stoker Award and the 1990 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection^[4]
• Mine (1990) – Winner of the 1990 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel^[7]
• Boy's Life (1991) – Winner of the 1991 Bram Stoker Award and the 1992 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel^[7]
• Gone South (1992) – Later published in an omnibus edition with Boy's Life.
• The Five (2011)
• The Border (May 2015)
• The Listener (February 2018)

• The Wolf's Hour (1989) – Nominated for the 1989 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel; New York Times Bestseller
• The Hunter from the Woods [Collection] (2011)

• Speaks the Nightbird (2002) – Later published as two paperback volumes, Judgement of the Witch and Evil Unveiled
• The Queen of Bedlam (2007)
• Mister Slaughter (2010)
• The Providence Rider (2012)
• The River of Souls (2014)
• Freedom of the Mask (May 2016)
• Cardinal Black (April 2019)
• The King of Shadows (December 2022)
• Seven Shades of Evil [Short story collection] (October 2023)
• Leviathan (December 2024)

• I Travel by Night (2013) – Novella
• I Travel by Night 2: Last Train from Perdition (Fall 2016)

Wikiquote has quotations related to Robert McCammon.

• Robert McCammon's official site
• Robert McCammon: Matthew Corbett's World
• Robert McCammon @ Facebook
• Inkwell Newswatch McCammon Interview
• Robert R. McCammon at IMDb
• "Corn on Macabre – An Appreciation of Robert McCammon" – Apocalypse Confidential