Editing Damon Knight (section)

==Biography==
Knight was born in [[Baker City, Oregon]], in 1922, and grew up in [[Hood River, Oregon]]. He entered science-fiction fandom at the age of eleven and published two issues of a fanzine titled ''Snide''.<ref name="oregonencyclopedia.org">{{cite web|last=Battistella|first=Edwin|title=Damon Knight (1922-2002)|url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/knight_damon_1922_2002_/|publisher=The Oregon Encyclopedia|access-date=31 July 2012}}</ref>

Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, ''[[Amazing Stories]]''.<ref name=HC>Knight, "Knight Piece," Brian W. Aldiss & Harry Harrison, ''Hell's Cartographers'', Orbit Books, 1976, p.&nbsp;105.</ref>  His first story, "The Itching Hour", appeared in the Summer 1940 number of ''[[Futuria Fantasia]]'', edited and published by [[Ray Bradbury]].<ref name="isfdb ..." />  "Resilience" followed in the February 1941 number of ''Stirring Science Stories'', edited by [[Donald A. Wollheim]].<ref name="isfdb ..." />  An editorial error made the latter story's ending incomprehensible;<ref name=SFWAGM3>Pohl, ''SFWA Grand Masters Volume Three'', p.&nbsp;202.</ref> it was reprinted in a 1978 magazine in four pages with a two-page introduction by Knight.<ref name="isfdb ..." /><!--http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?161451-->

At the time of his first story sale he was living in New York and was a member of the [[Futurians]].<ref name=SFE3_DK/> One of his short stories describes paranormal disruption of a science fiction fan group and contains cameo appearances of various Futurians and others under thinly-disguised names; for instance, non-Futurian SF writer [[H. Beam Piper]] is identified as "H. Dreyne Fifer".

Knight's forte was the [[short story]]; he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Best of Damon Knight|publisher=[[Nelson Doubleday]]|year=1976|editor-last=Malzberg|editor-first=Barry N.|editor-link=Barry N. Malzberg}}
</ref>  To the general public he is best known as the author of "[[To Serve Man (short story)|To Serve Man]]", a 1950 short story [[film adaptation|adapted]] for ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.<ref name="DBTZ" />  It won a 50-year [[Retro-Hugo]] in 2001 as the best short story of 1950.<ref name="SFAwards" /> Knight was also a science fiction critic, a career which began when he wrote in 1945 that [[A. E. van Vogt]] "is not a giant as often maintained. He's only a pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter."<ref name="oregonencyclopedia.org"/> He ceased reviewing when ''[[Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'' refused to publish his review of [[Judith Merril]]'s novel ''[[The Tomorrow People (novel)|The Tomorrow People]]''.<ref name="budrys196712">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=December 1967
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n02_1967-12_modified#page/n113/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=187–194
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Damon |title=[[In Search of Wonder|In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction]] |chapter=Author's Notes; To the Second Edition |date=2016 |publisher=ReAnimus Press |location=Golden, Colorado |isbn=9781539833697 |pages=20, 260 |edition=3rd |quote=I resigned as ''F&SF''{{'}}s book reviewer in 1960 because the then editor, now my agent and a good friend, declined to publish one of my reviews as written. (The review in question appears here for the first time, in Chapter 10 [The Tomorrow People].)}}</ref> These reviews were later collected in ''[[In Search of Wonder]]''.<ref name=SFE3_DK/>

[[Algis Budrys]] wrote that Knight and "William Atheling Jr." ([[James Blish]]) had "transformed the reviewer's trade in the field",<ref name="budrys196506">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=June 1965
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n05_1965-06#page/n163/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=164–169
}}</ref> in Knight's case "without the guidance of his own prior example".{{r|budrys196712}} The term "[[idiot plot]]", a story that only functions because almost everyone in it is an idiot, became well known through Knight's frequent use of it in his reviews, though he believed the term was probably invented by Blish.<ref name="SOS">Gary K. Wolfe, "Coming to Terms", in Gunn & Candelaria, ''Speculations on Speculation'', p.&nbsp;18.</ref> Knight's only non-Retro-Hugo Award was for "Best Reviewer" in 1956.<ref name="SFAwards" />

Knight was the founder of the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] (SFWA),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfwa.org/about/history-and-statistics/|title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America History and Statistics|publisher=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc|access-date=1 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003123251/http://www.sfwa.org/about/history-and-statistics/|archive-date=3 October 2011}}</ref> cofounder of the [[National Fantasy Fan Federation]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.n3f.org/N3Fhistory.shtml#2.13 |title=The History of N3F |publisher=The National Fantasy Fan Federation |access-date=1 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927112131/http://www.n3f.org/N3Fhistory.shtml |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref> cofounder of the [[Milford Writer's Workshop]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milfordsf.co.uk/history.htm|title=Milford History|publisher=Milford Speculative Fiction Writers|access-date=1 October 2011}}</ref> and cofounder of the [[Clarion Writers Workshop]].<ref name="SFE3_RSW">{{cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wilson_robin_scott|title=Robin Scott Wilson|publisher=Gollancz/SFE Ltd.|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref>  The SFWA officers and past presidents named Knight its 13th Grand Master in 1994 (presented 1995).  After his death, the associated award was renamed the [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award]] in his honor.<ref name=SFAwards/><ref name=SFE3_DK/><ref name=SFWA/>  The [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] inducted him in 2003.<ref name=sfhof-old/>

Until his death, Knight lived in [[Eugene, Oregon]], with his second wife, author [[Kate Wilhelm]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/obituaries/17KNIG.html|title=Damon Knight, 79, Writer and Editor of Science Fiction, Dies|date=17 April 2002|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>  His papers are held in the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://around.uoregon.edu/story/academics/celebrating-csws-40th-le-guin-feminist-science-fiction-fellowship|title = Celebrating CSWS 40th with the le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship|date = 7 July 2013}}</ref>