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Starmont House (1976-1993)

When Starmont House, Inc., ceased operations on March 1, 1993, the event marked the end of a publishing era. For almost seventeen years, Starmont published some of the best work of both established and new SF critics, in addition to reprinting a number of previously uncollected pulp classics. Its passing means the loss of a major outlet for innovative nonfiction books about fantastic literature.

Starmont House was founded by Thaddeus Maxim Eugene ``Ted'' Dikty (1920_1991).

The Starmont Reader's Guides became the flagship series for the company, eventually reaching Number 61 in 1992 (although some numbers were skipped). As the series progressed, the average length of the guides grew, with one of the later books (Frederik Pohl, by Thomas D. Clareson) reaching 178 pages, longer than the average page count of a Twayne critique. Editor Schlobin kept tight control over the guides: the series format required a chronology of the author's life and works, an introduction summarizing the subject's biography, coverage of the major books or collections of short stories, detailed primary and secondary bibliographies, and index.

In the early 1980s Starmont added two other series to its list, Starmont Studies in Literary Criticism, intended to feature somewhat longer author- or subject-oriented anthologies and monographs on fantastic literature; and Starmont Reference Guides, which included magazine and publisher indexes and SF bibliographies. More series followed. These later entries to the Starmont list suffered somewhat from a lack of strict editorial guidelines.

In the mid-1980s Starmont acquired its own printing and binding facilities at Eugene, Oregon, using high-speed copiers to produce Starmont's own titles, while soliciting outside work to keep the plant fully operational. In retrospect, this proved to be an unfortunate choice, for the immediate result was a serious dimunition in the production quality of the books, with very little actual savings in cash. When the recession of the early 1990s began hitting specialty and academic publishing, Starmont was affected with the rest, while outside printing jobs also diminished. Ted Dikty's death on 11 October 1991 removed the founder's guiding hand from Starmont at a crucial point in its history; and although his daughter, Barbara Dikty, had already been made President of Starmont House, Inc., she could not stem the tide. When Barbara was herself severely injured in a car accident on 26 December 1992, there was no one left to continue. Starmont had published its last few titles the preceding summer.

In toto Starmont House, Inc. issued 131 volumes, many of them the first extended examinations of their particular subjects, plus two art folios and a fantasy map. Starmont's authors included such leading critics as Thomas D. Clareson, Donald M. Hassler, Gary K. Wolfe, Michael R. Collings, S. T. Joshi, Gorman Beauchamp, Kenneth J. Zahorski, Randall D. Larson, Joan Gordon, Hoda M. Zaki, Marshall B. Tymn, Tony Magistrale, Robert M. Price, Darrell Schweitzer, and Sheldon Jaffery, among many others. One Starmont book (Isaac Asimov, by Donald M. Hassler) was honored with the Eaton Award as best critical monograph of 1991, and Dikty himself received the 1985 Milford Award for his contributions as editor and publisher. The demise of Starmont House, Inc. means the loss of both a major market for nonfiction works in the field, and the permanent absence of a strong editorial voice. It will be missed.

Works in the WWEnd Database

1992 WILLIAM GIBSON Lance Olsen	1992 KURT VONNEGUT Donald E. Morse	1992 J. R. R. TOLKIEN Carol D. Stevens David Stevens	1991 STANISLAW LEM J. Madison Davis	1991 STEPHEN DONALDSON Melissa Barth	1991 ISAAC ASIMOV Donald M. Hassler
1990 CLARK ASHTON SMITH Steve Behrends	1990 JOHN WYNDHAM Thomas D. Clareson	1990 LEWIS CARROLL Beverly Lyon Clark	1989 CHILDREN'S FANTASY Francis J. Molson	1989 GEORGE ALEC EFFINGER Vernon Ross Hyles	1989 A. MERRITT Ronald Foust
1989 RAY BRADBURY William F. Touponce	1989 CHRISTOPHER PRIEST Nicholas Ruddick	1988 IRA LEVIN Douglas Fowler	1988 MARY SHELLEY Allene Stuart Phy	1988 PETER BEAGLE Kenneth J. Zahorski	1988 RAMSEY CAMPBELL Gary William Crawford
1987 CHARLES WILLIAMS Kathleen Spencer	1987 ROBERT E. HOWARD Marc Cerasini Charles E. Hoffman	1987 FREDERIK POHL Thomas D. Clareson	1986 H. G. WELLS Robert Crossley	1986 BRIAN W. ALDISS Michael R. Collings	1986 E. E. "DOC" SMITH Joe Sanders
1986 ROBERT BLOCH Randall D. Larson	1986 OLAF STAPLEDON John Kinnaird	1986 GENE WOLFE Joan Gordon	1986 JAMES TIPTREE, JR. Mark Siegel	1986 ANNE MCCAFFREY Mary T. Brizzi	1986 SUZY MCKEE CHARNAS / JOAN VINGE / OCTAVIA BUTLER Richard Law Ruth Salvaggio Marleen S. Barr
1985 J. G. BALLARD Peter Brigg	1985 MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY Rosemarie Arbur	1984 JACK LONDON Gorman Beauchamp	1983 PIERS ANTHONY Michael R. Collings	1983 C. S. LEWIS Brian Murphy	1983 ROBERT SILVERBERG Thomas D. Clareson
1982 PHILIP K. DICK Hazel Pierce	1982 SAMUEL R. DELANY Jane Weedman	1982 ALFRED BESTER Carolyn Wendell	1982 HAL CLEMENT Donald M. Hassler	1982 DAVID LINDSAY Gary K. Wolfe	1982 STEPHEN KING Douglas E. Winter
1982 H. P. LOVECRAFT S. T. Joshi	1981 THEODORE STURGEON Lahna F. Diskin	1980 JOE HALDEMAN Joan Gordon	1980 FRANK HERBERT David M. Miller	1980 FRITZ LEIBER Jeff Frane	1980 PHILIP JOSE FARMER Mary T. Brizzi
1979 ARTHUR C. CLARKE Eric S. Rabkin	1979 ROGER ZELAZNY Carl B. Yoke	1992 LOVECRAFT Lin Carter

Authors Published

• Thomas Clareson  • Joan Gordon  • Donald Hassler  • Mary Brizzi  • Michael Collings  • Gorman Beauchamp  • Rosemarie Arbur  • Joseph Sanders  • Randall Larson  • John Kinnaird  • Ronald Foust  • J. Davis  • Melissa Barth  • Donald Morse  • Gary Crawford  • William Touponce  • Douglas Fowler  • Allene Phy  • Kenneth Zahorski  • Kathleen Spencer  • Beverly Clark  • Francis Molson  • Vernon Hyles  • Ruth Salvaggio  • Marleen Barr  • Richard Laws  • Carol Stevens  • Charles Hoffman  • Marc Cerasini  • Peter Brigg  • David Miller  • Jeff Frane  • Hazel Pierce  • Jane Weedman  • Brian Murphy  • Lance Olsen  • Douglas Winter  • Gary Wolfe  • Linwood Carter  • Robert Crossley  • Nicholas Ruddick  • Sunand Joshi  • Eric Rabkin  • Carl Yoke  • Lahna Diskin  • Mark Siegel  • David Stevens  • Steve Behends  • Carolyn Wendell