Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter (1930-1988) was an American writer, editor and critic of fantasy and science fiction. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea and studied at Columbia University before writing full time from 1969.

He is best known for sword-and-planet and sword-and-sorcery series such as Thongor, Callisto and Zanthodon, for Cthulhu Mythos pastiches, and for completing unfinished Conan stories begun by Robert E. Howard. As editor of Ballantine's Adult Fantasy series (1969-1974) he brought many neglected fantasy classics back into print.

He also wrote the study Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings (1969).