Editing Nancy A. Collins

{{short description|American novelist}}

{{BLP sources|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Nancy A. Collins
| image            = Nancy collins.jpg
| caption          = Nancy A. Collins
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1959|9|10}}
| birth_place      = [[McGehee, Arkansas]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = {{hlist|Novelist|short story writer}}
| genre            = {{hlist|[[Horror fiction]]|[[Fantasy]]|Science fiction}}
| movement         = 
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| website          = 
| signature        = 
}}
'''Nancy A. Collins''' (born September 10, 1959) is an American [[horror fiction]] writer best known for her series of [[vampire]] novels featuring her character Sonja Blue.<ref>Monica I. O'Rourke "Nancy Collins" in: [[Richard Bleiler]], Ed. ''Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror''. New York: Thomson/Gale, 2003. (p. 221-226). {{ISBN|9780684312507}}</ref> 
Collins has also written for comic books, including the ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' (vol. 2) series, ''Jason vs. Leatherface'', ''Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin''' and her own one-shot issue ''[[Dhampire: Stillborn]]''.<ref name="fantasticfiction">{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/nancy-a-collins/|title=Nancy A Collins|publisher=Fantastic Fiction|access-date=November 1, 2010}}</ref>

Collins was born in [[McGehee, Arkansas|McGehee]], Arkansas, United States. She lived in [[New Orleans]], Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in  New York City and [[Atlanta]], Georgia she moved about the South for several years, living in coastal North Carolina and Virginia, before settling in Macon, Georgia in 2019.

==Writing==
Collins has written numerous novels since 1989, most of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey. She is best known for Sonja Blue, a young woman with demonic powers who after being taught by an older male mentor, hunts and kills vampires.  Her first appearance was in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikibin.org/articles/sonja-blue.html|title=Sonja Blue|access-date=2023-08-01}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|sure=y|reason=wikibin reference.|date=May 2025}} A. Asbjørn Jøn notes possible intertextual links between the Whistler character in the 1998 movie ''[[Blade (1998 film)|Blade]]'' and a character named Whistler in the Sonja Blue novel, ''A Dozen Black Roses'' (1996), as they possess "striking similarities in role, dramatic focus, visual appearance, and sharing the name".<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283318599|title = Vampire Evolution|last = Jøn|first = A. Asbjørn|date = 2003|journal = METAphor|access-date = 25 November 2015|page = 23}}</ref> Margaret L. Carter, in her article on 20th century vampire fiction, listed ''Sunglasses After Dark'' as one of the 13 most influential vampire novels published after 1970, particularly in the way Collins depicted vampires as parasitic beings with no identity of their own who 'borrow' the memories of their hosts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.simegen.com/reviews/vampires/gravedig.htm|title = Outstanding Vampire Novels}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{main|Nancy A. Collins bibliography}}

===Chapbooks===
* ''The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride: The True Story'' (1991)
* ''Cold Turkey'' (1992)
* ''Voodoo Chile'' (2002)
* ''The Thing From Lover's Lane'' (2003)

===Non-fiction===
* ''The Big Book of Losers'' (1996)
* ''Drawn Swords''' - "Foreword" (2017)
* ''From Bayou To Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer'' - "What Do You Do With An Undead Sailor?" (2020)<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://sequart.org/books/on-other-subjects/from-bayou-to-abyss-examining-john-constantine-hellblazer/|title=From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer|language=en-US}}</ref>
* ''REH Changed My Life'' - "REH: Opener of the Way" (2021)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-01-11|title=ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE|url=https://rogue-blades.com/rbf/reh-changed-my-life/reh-changed-my-life/|access-date=2022-02-07|website=Rogue Blades|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Comic books==
* ''[[Swamp Thing (comic book)#Nancy A. Collins|Swamp Thing]]'' (vol. 2) ([[DC Comics|DC]]/[[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]], 1991–1993)
* ''[[Friday the 13th (franchise)#Comic books|Jason vs. Leatherface]]'' ([[Topps Comics]], 1995)
* ''Sunglasses After Dark'' ([[Verotik|Verotik Publications]], 1995–1997)
* ''Machina Jones'' ([[Marvel Comics]], 1995)
* ''[[Dhampire: Stillborn]]'' (Vertigo, 1996; DC Comics, 1997) {{ISBN|978-1-56389-256-1}}
* ''[[List of Predator comics|Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin']]'' ([[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse]], 1996)
* ''[[Vampirella]]'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment|Dynamite]], 2014–2016)
* ''[[Sunglasses After Dark: Full Blooded Edition]]'' ([[IDW Publishing|IDW]], 2015)
* ''[[Army of Darkness: Furious Road]]'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]], 2016)
* ''[[Swamp Thing by Nancy A. Collins Omnibus]]'' ([[DC Comics]]/[[DC Black Label]], 2020)

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Awards for Nancy Collins
|-
! Year  !! Award !! Category !!  Work !! Result !! Ref.
|-
| 1989||[[Bram Stoker Award]]||First Novel||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Won}}||
|-
| 1990||[[Lord Ruthven Award]]||Fiction||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Won}}||
|-
| 1990||[[British Fantasy Award]]||Sydney J. Bounds Award (Newcomer)|| ||{{Won}}||
|-
| 1990||[[Locus Award]]||First Novel||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Nominated}}||<ref> https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards </ref>
|-
| 1990||Locus Award||Horror||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1990||[[Astounding Award for Best New Writer]]|| ||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1990||[[Compton Crook Award]]||First Novel||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1991||Locus Award||Horror/Dark Fantasy||''Tempter''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1992||Locus Award||Horror/Dark Fantasy||''In the Blood''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1992||[[Eisner Awards]]||Single Issue/One-Shot||''Swamp Thing #113''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1995||Locus Award ||Horror/Dark Fantasy||''Wild Blood''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1995||Locus Award ||Collection||''Nameless Sins''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1996||Locus Award ||Horror/Dark Fantasy||''Paint it Black''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1996||Locus Award||Anthology||''Dark Love''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1996||[[World Fantasy Award]]||Anthology||''Dark Love''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1996||Bram Stoker Award||Long Fiction||''The Thing from Lover's Lane''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 1996||Deathrealm Award||Anthology||''Dark Love''||{{Won}}||<ref> https://www.sfadb.com/Deathrealm_Awards_1996 </ref>
|-
| 1998||[[Seiun Award]]||Translated Long Work||''Sunglasses After Dark''||{{Nominated}}||
|-
| 2002||[[International Horror Guild Award]]||Collection||''Knuckles and Tales''||{{Nominated}}||<ref> https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html </ref>
|-
| 2002||Bram Stoker Award||Fiction Collection||''Knuckles and Tales''||{{Nominated}}||
|}

==Other==
She is the founder of the International Horror Guild.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/86910/nancy-collins|title=Nancy A. Collins|website=Penguin Random House Canada}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of horror fiction authors]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

* David Mathew, "Collins, Nancy A(verill)", in [[David Pringle]], ed., ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers'' (Detroit: St. James Press, 1998) {{ISBN|1558622063}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{isfdb name|id=Nancy_A._Collins|name=Nancy A. Collins}}
* [http://truesonjablue.blogspot.com/ Collins' "True Blue - The Official Sonja Blue Blog"]
*[https://www.myspace.com/golgotham Myspace Golgotham]
* [http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48397.Nancy_A_Collins Nancy A. Collins on GoodReads]

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2013}}

{{Authority control}}

<!--ref http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/nancy-a-collins/, see "Love's Throbbing Bob", anthology of SubGenius stories-->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Nancy A.}}
[[Category:American horror novelists]]
[[Category:Erotic horror writers]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:American female comics writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:Writers from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Novelists from Louisiana]]
[[Category:Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American erotica writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American women short story writers]]
[[Category:People from McGehee, Arkansas]]
[[Category:American women horror writers]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American women erotica writers]]
[[Category:DC Comics people]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American short story writers]]