Writer Fred Saberhagen: biography, family, creativity

Fred Thomas Saberhagen (May 18, 1930 - June 29, 2007) was an American science fiction writer best known for his science fiction stories, in particular the Berserker series.

Saberhagen also wrote several novels about vampires in which they (including the famous Dracula) are the main characters. Also from his pen came a series of post-apocalyptic mythical and magical novels, beginning with his popular "Empire of the East" and ending with a series of "Swords".

Creative way

Fred Saberhagen was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He was a soldier in the US Air Force during the Korean War, when he was a little over twenty. Returning to a peaceful life, Saberhagen worked as an electronic technician at Motorola Corporation from 1958 to 1962, when he was about 30 years old.

It was at a time when he was an employee of Motorola that Fred began to seriously write fiction. His first publication was in Galaxy Magazine, in which he posted his short story Tom PAA-PYX in 1961. The Fortress Ship, his first short novel from the Berserker series, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen published his first novel, The Golden People.

From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor of articles on chemistry in the British Encyclopedia, and also wrote articles on science fiction. Then Fred completely devoted himself to creative activity. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Family and religion

In 1968, he married writer Joan Spicci. They had two sons and a daughter. On June 29, 2007, Fred Saberhagen died of prostate cancer in Albuquerque.

In his adult years, he was a practicing Catholic. Signs of his faith from time to time appear in his books very clearly for a wary and sympathetic reader.

Series "Dracula"

The books of Fred Saberhagen about this character are based on the premise that vampires are morally equal to normal people: they have the power to do good or evil, it's their choice.

The first book in the series, The Dracula's Tape, is the story of Bram Stoker, told from a vampire perspective. Saberhagen depicts Dracula as a historical figure - Vlad Tepes, governor of Wallachia. In the stories, he became a vampire after the murder. The character said that “a transcendental act of will” he refused to die. But in reality it is obvious that even he is not sure how he really became that way. Most people in the series are reborn when they drink vampire blood.

In this version, Van Helsing (a con man and heretic) and the company are portrayed mainly as unskillful.

Dracula was cruel and quick-tempered, but nevertheless bound by his own word of honor and devoted to his loved ones. In his mortal life, he fought the invasion of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in Europe (“There is not a drop of land here that would not be enriched with the blood of patriots.”) In later novels, Dracula interacts with literary characters, including Sherlock Holmes. This series has often been referred to in advertisements as "New Dracula." Fred's success through a series of novels about this character was such that he was hired to write a screenplay for Bram Stoker's self-titled film in 1992.

Books:

1. The Tape of Dracula (1975)
2. The Holmes-Dracula File (1978). Presumably, this name was not chosen by Saberhagen, as the meeting of the characters was to become an unexpected plot.
3. "An old friend of the family" (1979).
4. Thorne (1980).
5. The Dominion (June 1982).
6. "From the Tree of Time" (1986).
7. The Question of Taste (1990).
8. The Question of Time (1992).
9. Session for the Vampire (1994), reprinted as “Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Session for the Vampire” (2010).
10. "Sharpness on the neck" (1996).
11. “Box number fifty” (story).
12. "Dracula in London" (2001).
13. "Cold in the blood" (2002).

Series "Berserker"

These stories tell of the ongoing war between humanity and war machines. Fred Saberhagen berserkers are self-reproducing, programmed robots with one goal: to destroy all life. After the disappearance of both their creators and the warring parties in a long galactic war, they continued to destroy all life forms that they encountered on the Milky Way, which led to the cooperation and coordination of most intelligent races in attempts to defeat them.

Series works:

1. "Berserker" (1967).
2. "Brother Assassin" (1969).
3. The Planet of the Berserker (1974).
4. The Berserker-Man (1979).
5. The Ultimate Enemy (1979).

Humanity, although relatively new to the galactic scene, is a major player due to its aggressive nature. The series covers a wide range of time and space and therefore has less continuity of plot than other Saberhagen editions.