I like to keep short story collections beside my bed and read selections from them before going to sleep. Among my choices Friday night were three that Martin H. Greenberg had a hand in. Saturday afternoon his good friend and frequent collaborator Ed Gorman reported on his blog that “Marty died peacefully this afternoon in his sleep at home in Green Bay, Wisconsin.” 

He had been given three Lifetime Achievement Awards in separate literary fields – The Ellery Queen award in Mystery, The Milford award in Science Fiction and the Bram Stoker award in Horror, (the first and only person to have the distinction of winning all three), and was the CEP of Tekno Books, (he often used his middle initial ‘H’ to distinguish himself from publisher and science fiction anthologist Martin Greenberg of Gnome Press.) The beloved and incredibly prolific editor and anthologist was 70 when he died.

His enthusiasm for genre fiction was boundless as demonstrated by the breadth and depth (not to mention sheer volume) of the subject matter covered in the stories he collected for more than one hundred books. His reach covered everything from annual Year’s Best volumes for Crime, Mystery and Science Fiction to character collections like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Xena: Warrior Princess, Dick Tracy, Sherlock Holmes and Freddy Krueger as well as sub-genres as diverse as Vampire detectives, Feline Mystery and Steampunk. Two of his latest collections that I’m currently perusing are On Dangerous Groundtories of Western Noir, (co-edited by Ed Gorman and Dave Zeltserman) and Screamplays, (that’s right, an anthology of horror screenplays) co-edited by Richard Chizmar.

Some memorial tributes have been surfacing on the web over the weekend from friends, admirers and collaborators including Ed Gorman, Bill Crider, Max Allan Collins, and this one where it's revealed that a nickname of his was The Green Bay Packager. Lovely. We'll all miss you, Martin.

Jedidiah Ayres Writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.