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{{short description|American writer (born 1945)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Jack Dann
| birth_name       = Jack Dann
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1945|02|15}}
| birth_place      = [[Johnson City, New York]], U.S.
| occupation       = Writer
| language         = English
| education        = [[Binghamton University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| alma_mater       = 
| notableworks     = 
| website          = {{URL|jackdann.com}}
| awards           = [[World Fantasy Award—Anthology]] 1999 and 2017; [[Nebula Award for Best Novella]] 1997
| years_active     = 1970–present
| image            = Jack Dann.jpg
}}

'''Jack Dann''' (born February 15, 1945) is an American [[writer]] best known for his science fiction, as well as an [[editor]] and a writing teacher, who has lived in [[Australia]] since 1994. He has published over seventy books, the majority being as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the [[science fiction]], [[fantasy]] and [[Horror fiction|horror]] genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays, and poetry, and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, [[magical realism]], and [[historical fiction|historical]] and [[alternative history]] genres, has been compared to [[Jorge Luis Borges]], [[Roald Dahl]], [[Lewis Carroll]], [[J. G. Ballard]], and [[Philip K. Dick]].<ref name="waldren">{{cite news | last = Waldren | first = Murray | title = Jack Dann | work = The Weekend Australian: Review Section | page = 13 |date = 1999-06-12}}</ref>

==Life and career==

===Early life===
Jack Dann was born to a [[American Jews|Jewish]] family<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmBKCAAAQBAJ&q=dann|first=Yonassan|last=Gershom|title=Jewish Themes in Star Trek|date=March 13, 2013|publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=9781458397683}}</ref> in New York State in 1945 and grew up in [[Johnson City, New York]]. His father was an attorney and a judge. Dann describes himself as having been "a troublesome child in a very small town", and in his teens associated with a local gang. Following an incident during which gang members let off fireworks, which led to injuries, his parents enrolled him in a [[military academy]], which he chose against the alternative option of a [[reform school]], and where he remained for two years.<ref name="waldren" />

Subsequently, he commenced theater studies at Hofstra University in [[New York City]].<ref name="MUP44">{{cite book | last1 = Collins| first1 = Paul | first2=Steven |last2=Paulsen |first3=Sean |last3=McMullen | title = The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher = Melbourne University Press | page = 44 | year = 1998 | location = Melbourne | isbn = 0-522-84771-4}}</ref> However, in 1965 he contracted [[peritonitis]] after a poorly performed operation for [[appendicitis]]. He was considered unlikely to survive by his doctors, and spent four months recovering in hospital, at one stage sharing a ward with members of the [[Mafia]] who had been injured in a gun battle. He attributes a major change in outlook to his survival, and began a search for a fulfilling and meaningful vocation, which eventually led to him taking up writing.<ref name="morgenstern">{{cite web | last = Morgenstern | first = Meredith |  title = An Interview With Author, Jack Dann  | work = The Thorn and the Rose | url = http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/Profile/jackdann.html | access-date = 2009-01-19}}</ref>

Following discharge from hospital, he moved to [[Binghamton, New York]] where he continued his studies.<ref name="Gold Down-Under">{{cite web | title = Gold Down-Under | work = Locus | date = May 1999 | url = http://www.locusmag.com/1999/Issues/05/DannWebb.html | access-date = 2009-01-20}}</ref>   He was awarded a BA in social and political science in 1968 from [[Binghamton University]] and later undertook postgraduate studies in law at St John's Law School from 1969 to 1971.<ref name="fletcher163">{{cite book | last = Fletcher | first = Marylin | author2 = James L. Thorson | title = The Reader's Guide to Science Fiction | publisher = American Library Association | page = [https://archive.org/details/readersguidetotw0000flet/page/163 163] | year = 1989 | location = Chicago and London | isbn = 0838905048 | url = https://archive.org/details/readersguidetotw0000flet/page/163 }}</ref> He lived in Binghamton for much of the next 30 years.  His long term loyalty to the town which persisted until his move to Australia in 1994 earned him the description of 'the hermit of Binghamton' among his friends.<ref name="Gold Down-Under"/>

He was introduced to [[genre fiction]], and in particular science fiction, from an early age, as his father had a collection of science fiction books which lined the walls of Dann's bedroom and he recalls "gazing at the colorful covers before I could read." In the late 1960s, he encountered a number of now well-known writers and editors in the science fiction and fantasy field, including [[George Zebrowski]], [[Pamela Sargent]], [[Gardner Dozois]], [[Jack Haldeman]] and [[Joe Haldeman]], two of whom, Zebrowski and Sargent, also lived in Binghamton and were students with Dann at Binghamton University (then known as SUNY Binghamton).<ref name="morgenstern" /><ref name="gevers" />

Dann was soon collaborating with Zebrowski, "sitting on opposite sides of a table in his dining room and writing on an old manual typewriter" and in 1970 sold two of these collaborations, "Dark, Dark the Dead Star" and "Traps," to the magazine ''[[Worlds of If]]'',<ref name="morgenstern" /><ref name="gevers" /> with 'Traps' being Dann's first published work when it appeared in March 1970. Dann had previously sold a story to [[Damon Knight]] for ''[[Orbit (anthology series)|Orbit]]'', but this took almost two years to be published.<ref name="ashley46">{{Cite book | last = Ashley | first = Michael | title = The History of the Science-fiction Magazine | publisher = Liverpool University Press | isbn = 1-84631-002-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/gatewaystoforeve0000ashl/page/46 46] | year = 2000 | url = https://archive.org/details/gatewaystoforeve0000ashl/page/46 }}</ref> Zebrowski also introduced Dann to the world of [[science fiction convention]]s and [[Science fiction fandom|fandom]], a culture he has been involved in ever since.<ref name="morgenstern" /><ref name="gevers" />

Initially he combined continued sales of his stories with work as a door-to-door salesman, which began after a commission for his first novel, ''Starhiker'', was not finalized by his prospective publisher and he had become indebted, expecting payment for the piece.<ref name="morgenstern" /> While continuing his writing, he moved on from sales to commence a business career, starting companies in the advertising, cable and insurance industries, among others and later working as a business consultant.<ref name="waldren" /> He also taught writing at Cornell University in 1973.<ref name="fletcher163" />

He published his first book as editor, ''[[Wandering Stars (anthology)|Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' in 1974, and his first novel, ''Starhiker'', in 1977.

===Move to Australia===
In 1994 he moved to [[Melbourne]] to join [[Janeen Webb]], a Melbourne science fiction critic, academic, and writer, whom he met at a conference in [[San Francisco]] and married in 1995. It was the second marriage for each of them. He has since collaborated with Webb on several writing and editing projects and the couple are well known in Australian speculative fiction culture.<ref name="blackmore">{{cite web | last = Blackmore | first = Leigh | author-link = Leigh Blackmore | title = Time and Memory | work = Tabula Rasa | year = 2003 | url = http://www.tabula-rasa.info/AusHorror/JackDann.html | access-date = 2009-01-20}}</ref>

He currently lives on a farm overlooking the sea near [[Foster, Victoria|Foster]], in the [[Gippsland]] region of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], but also typically spends some period of each year in [[Los Angeles]] and [[New York City|New York]]. In 2016 he received a [[Ph.D.]] from the [[University of Queensland]], School of Communication and Arts. His dissertation was titled "Shadows in the Stone and a Study of Historical Divergence".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:400909|title=Shadows in the Stone and a Study of Historical Divergence - UQ eSpace|last=Dann|first=Jack|year=2016|access-date=5 June 2018}}</ref>

==Work as an editor and anthologist==
He was editor of the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America|SFWA]] Bulletin from 1970 to 1975. He was assistant editor 1970–1972, and managing editor 1973–1975.<ref name="who's">{{cite book | last = Sleeman | first = Elizabeth  |author2=Alison Neale | title = International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 | publisher = Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group | page = 129 | date = December 2003 | location = New York | isbn = 978-1-85743-179-7}}</ref> He has been a consulting editor for [[Tor Books]] since 1994.

Of the more than 70 books he has published, most have been themed fiction anthologies in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres, of which he has been editor, or co-editor. His anthologies tend to be prefaced by his essays on the theme of the anthology and the writers represented therein.

His first published anthology was ''Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (1974), collecting stories by Jewish Authors and/or relating to Jewish themes.<ref name="MUP44"/> The volume celebrated a strong Jewish tradition of fantasy in literature and also brought attention to Jewish writers in the field, some of whom had not been previously widely recognised for their contributions to its genesis.<ref name="weil192">{{cite book | last1 = Weil| first1 = Ellen |  last2 = Wolfe | first2=Gary K. | title = Harlan Ellison: the edge of forever | publisher = Ohio State University Press | page = 192 | year = 2002 |  isbn = 0-8142-0892-4}}</ref> It was one of the most acclaimed American anthologies of the 1970s, and was later followed by ''[[More Wandering Stars|More Wandering Stars: Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' (1981).<ref name="MUP44" /> Dann also co-edited, with Grania Davidson Davis, ''Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: Essential Jewish Tales of the Spirit'', a collection of short fiction by [[Avram Davidson]], a Hugo and multi World Fantasy Award-winning Jewish American [[List of science fiction authors|writer of science fiction]], fantasy and crime, which was published in October 2000.

In 1987 he published ''In the Field of Fire'', co-editing with then wife, Jeanne Van Buren, a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories relating to the horrors of the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="MUP44" />  It was nominated for Best Anthology in the 1988 World Fantasy and Locus awards.<ref name="locusindexsfawards" /> The collection was the first science fiction anthology to have a review featured on the front page of the ''[[New York Times Book Review]]''.<ref name="MUP44" />

In 1998 he published an anthology of Australian science fiction and fantasy ''Dreaming Down-Under'' co-editing with wife Janeen Webb. It won Australia's [[Ditmar Award]] and is the first Australian fiction book ever to win the prestigious [[World Fantasy Award]]. ([[Donald H. Tuck]]'s 1979 award was for a non-fiction work).

In August 2003 he published ''Gathering the Bones'', as co-editor with Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, a collection of horror stories from the United Kingdom, The US and Australia, which was included in [[Library Journal]]'s "Best Genre Fiction of 2003" and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.<ref>{{cite web|last=Castro |first=Adam-Troy |author-link=Adam-Troy Castro |title=Off the Shelf |work=Sci Fi Weekly |publisher=Sci Fi Channel |year=2003 |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue330/books2.html |access-date=2009-01-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707005630/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue330/books2.html |archive-date=July 7, 2008 }}</ref>

He has also published, as editor, a further volume of Australian [[speculative fiction]] ''Dreaming Again'', anthologies of [[Nebula Award]] winning stories, and many other anthologies, both singularly and in collaboration with others.

==="Magic Tales" anthologies===
{{Main|Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series}}
Many of his anthologies have been editorial collaborations with Gardner Dozois. Of these, the most extensive series has been the [[Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series|"Magic Tales"]] anthologies, initially published by [[Ace Books]] and commencing with ''Unicorns!'' in 1982. Across over 30 volumes, this series collected and republished short stories centering on a number of fantasy and [[List of science fiction themes|science fiction themes]], such as aliens, mermaids, dinosaurs, dragons, and clones. The selected stories tend to be reprints of previously published works, and some are decades old. Each book has a preface by the editors, and each story is preceded by a short introduction, focusing on other works by the story's author.

===Anthologies co-edited with Gardner Dozois===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Aliens!]]'' (April 1980, Pocket Books, {{ISBN|0-671-83155-0}})
*''[[Unicorns!]]'' (May 1982, 0-441-85441-9)
*''[[Magicats!]]'' (June 1984, {{ISBN|978-0-441-51532-5}})
*''[[Bestiary!]]'' (October 1985, {{ISBN|978-0-441-05508-1}})
*''[[Mermaids!]]'' (January 1986, {{ISBN|978-0-441-52567-6}})
*''[[Sorcerers!]]'' (October 1986, {{ISBN|978-0-441-77532-3}})
*''[[Demons!]]'' (July 1987, {{ISBN|978-0-441-14264-4}})
*''[[Dogtales!]]'' (September 1988, {{ISBN|978-0-441-15760-0}})
*''[[Seaserpents!]]'' (December 1989, {{ISBN|978-0-441-75682-7}})
*''[[Dinosaurs! (1990 anthology)|Dinosaurs!]]'' (June 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-441-14883-7}})
*''[[Little People! (book)|Little People!]]'' (March 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-441-50391-9}})
*''[[Magicats II]]'' (December 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-441-51533-2}})
*''[[Unicorns II]]'' (November 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-441-84564-4}})
*''[[Dragons!]]'' (August 1993, {{ISBN|978-0-441-16631-2}})
*''[[Invaders! (anthology)|Invaders!]]'' (December 1993, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01519-1}})
*''[[Horses!]]'' (May 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00057-9}})
*''[[Angels!]]'' (June 1995, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00220-7}})
*''[[Dinosaurs II]]'' (December 1995, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00285-6}})
*''[[Hackers (anthology)|Hackers]]'' (October 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00375-4}})
*''[[Timegates]]'' (March 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00428-7}})
*''[[Clones (anthology)|Clones]]'' (April 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00522-2}})
*''[[Immortals (anthology)|Immortals]]'' (July 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00539-0}})
*''[[Nanotech (anthology)|Nanotech]]'' (December 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00585-7}})
*''[[Future War (anthology)|Future War]]'' (August 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00639-7}})
*''[[Armageddons]]'' (November 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00675-5}})
*''[[Aliens Among Us]]'' (June 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00704-2}})
*''[[Genometry]]'' (January 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00797-4}})
*''[[Space Soldiers]]'' (April 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00824-7}})
*''[[Future Sports]]'' (June 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00961-9}})
*''[[Beyond Flesh]]'' (December 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-441-00999-2}})
*''[[Future Crimes]]'' (December 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01118-6}})
*''[[A.I.s]]'' (December 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01216-9}})
*''[[Robots (Ace anthology)|Robots]]'' (August 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01321-0}})
*''[[Beyond Singularity]]'' (December 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01363-0}})
*''[[Escape from Earth]]'' (August 2006, Science Fiction Book Club, {{ISBN|978-1-58288-225-3}})
*''[[Futures Past]]'' (November 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01454-5}})
*''[[Dangerous Games (anthology)|Dangerous Games]]'' (April 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-441-01490-3}})
*''[[Wizards (Ace anthology)|Wizards]]'' (May 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-101-20874-8}})
{{div col end}}

===Other anthologies edited or co-edited by Jack Dann===
*''[[Wandering Stars (anthology)|Wandering Stars]]'' (1974)
*''[[Nebula Awards 32]]'' (1998)
*''[[Nebula Awards Showcase 2005]]'' (2005)

==Writing career==

===Shorter works of fiction===
Short stories, novelettes and novellas have comprised the vast majority of his fiction and over 100 of these, in multiple genres, have been published across his writing career. His short stories have appeared in ''[[Omni (magazine)|Omni]]'' and ''[[Playboy]]'' and other major magazines and anthologies and have been collected in ''Timetipping'' (1980), the retrospective short story collection ''Jubilee: the Essential Jack Dann'' (2001), including an introduction and notes by Dann<ref name="MUP44-5">{{cite book | last1 = Collins| first1 = Paul | first2=Steven |last2=Paulsen |first3=Sean |last3=McMullen | title = The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher = Melbourne University Press | pages = 44–5 | year = 1998 | location = Melbourne | isbn = 0-522-84771-4}}</ref> and ''Visitations'' (2003).

Major shorter works include: 'Junction', a novella, later expanded into a novel, published in ''Fantastic Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories 23'' in November 1973; 'The Dybbuk Dolls', published in ''New Dimensions of Science Fiction Number 5'' in 1975, a fantastic tale portraying Jews in a dystopian future United States; 'Camps', published in ''Fantasy and Science Fiction'' in May 1979, a story of a terminally ill young man who experiences another man's past in a concentration camp, part-based on Dann's own brush with death in his youth; 'Down among the Dead Men', published in ''Oui'' on 11 July 1982 and co written by Gardner Dozois, also focusing on a concentration camp - the story was awarded the Premios Gilgames de Narrativa Fantastica award; 'Bad Medicine', published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' in October 1986, an except from his novel ''Counting Coup'', substantially revised.<ref name="MUP44-5" />

His novella 'Da Vinci Rising', using sections of novel ''The Memory Cathedral'' together with approximately 5,000 words of new writing won the Nebula Award in 1996 and short story 'Niagara Falling', co written by [[Janeen Webb]] was awarded the Aurealis Award in 1998.<ref name="MUP45" />

===Novels===
His first four novels were science fiction or variants thereon. As from the ''Memory Cathedral'' (1995), further novels have been [[alternate history]] and/or [[magical realism]]. In keeping with a practice not uncommon among science fiction writers, his bibliography shows several of his novels having been preceded by the publication of shorter works of varying length, which are progenitors, partial serialisations or extracts from his eventual full length published books.

[http://www.harpercollins.com.au/authors/50000637/Jack_Dann/index.aspx Reading guides for Dann's novels] ''The Memory Cathedral'', ''The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean'', ''The Silent'', and ''Bad Medicine'' are available on the Dann's author page on the website of publisher HarperCollinsAustralia. Each guide includes reflections by the author on writing the book, questions for use with reading groups, and a list of books for further reading on the setting or related issues.

====''Starhiker'' (1977)====
His first novel describes the cosmic voyage of Bo, a young man with an itinerant outlook, who is the inhabitant of a future Earth which has little importance in galactic affairs, and is under extraterrestrial occupation by the Hrau, principally for use as relay station for galactic spacecraft. Bo boards one of these craft and hence encounters a range of confronting and transcendent experiences, often with a dreamlike quality, before eventually returning to his home.<ref name="wingrove">{{cite book | last = Wingrove | first = David  | author-link = David Wingrove | title = [[The Science Fiction Source Book]] edited by David Wingrove | page = 130 | publisher = Longman | year = 1984 | isbn = 0-582-55592-2}}</ref>

Sections of ''Starhiker'' were serialized as two novellas in ''[[Amazing Stories|Amazing]]'' from June–September 1976, prior to the publication of the full novel version.<ref name="ashley83">{{Cite book | last = Ashley | first = Michael | title = The History of the Science-fiction Magazine | publisher = Liverpool University Press | isbn = 1-84631-002-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/gatewaystoforeve0000ashl/page/83 83] | year = 2000 | url = https://archive.org/details/gatewaystoforeve0000ashl/page/83 }}</ref> It was translated into German, and published as ''Welten-Vagabund'' in 1979.<ref name="dannbibliography">{{cite web|title=Jack Dann: Bibliography |work=Jack Dann: The official website |url=http://www.jackdann.com/id7.html |access-date=2009-02-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020033440/http://www.jackdann.com/id7.html |archive-date=October 20, 2008 }}</ref>

====''Junction'' (1981)====
The novel begins in a small town in the 19th-century fashioned [[Midwestern United States]], which is separated from reality: apparently it is the only human settlement left on Earth, now situated close to Hell. Protagonist Ned Wheeler leaves the town, undertaking a journey into hell and emerging in a 20th-century New York where many have dreamt of him prior to his arrival.

Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick was greatly impressed with the novel, commenting: "''Junction'' is where Ursula Le Guin's ''The Lathe of Heaven'' and Tony Boucher's "The Quest for Saint Aquin" meet... and yet it is an entirely new novel ... I may very well be basing some of my future work on ''Junction''."<ref name="MUP45">{{cite book | last1 = Collins| first1 = Paul | first2=Steven |last2=Paulsen |first3=Sean |last3=McMullen | title = The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher = Melbourne University Press | page = 45 | year = 1998 | location = Melbourne | isbn = 0-522-84771-4}}</ref>

A novella version of ''Junction'' was published in ''[[Fantastic (magazine)|Fantastic]]'' in November 1973.<ref name="ashley83"/> It was nominated for the 1974 Nebula Award and [[Locus Award]].<ref name="locusindexsfawards" /> Dann reworked this tale for some years through a number of drafts, publishing a further section entitled "Islands of Time" in ''Fantastic'' in September 1977. Finally the sections were combined with further material to form the full novel published in 1981.<ref name="ashley83" />  It was translated into German by Rainer Schmidt and published as ''Grenzland der Hölle'' in 1985.<ref name="dannbibliography" />

====''The Man Who Melted'' (1984)====
Set in the 21st Century, it presents a post-apocalyptic world in which telepathic shock waves – an outbreak of collective fear from the unconscious of millions - have led to widespread destruction and the reduction of many human beings to inhuman "screamers". The protagonist, Raymond Mantle, searches through this shattered world for his wife, whose absence from his life he is aware of, but whose actual presence in his memories has been erased by the "Scream". The novel also imagines a future where unfamiliar forms of consciousness, introduced by the new telepathic reality created by the "Scream", have altered the nature of humanity and questionable moral practices have become common, including the commercial availability of suicide in scenarios such as a reenactment of the sinking of the Titanic and the option of gambling with one's organs. Extrapolations in the book include a precocious vision of the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|last=Elhefnawy |first=Nader |title=The Man Who Melted by Jack Dann |work=Strange Horizons Reviews |date=August 2007 |url=http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/08/the_man_who_mel.shtml |access-date=2009-01-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120211933/http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/08/the_man_who_mel.shtml |archive-date=2008-11-20 }}</ref>

The novel attracted significant praise within the science fiction genre and was appreciated by both followers of humanistic and cyberpunk traditions in that field.<ref>Kessel, John (2001), Jack: Out of the Box; Introduction to: Jubilee by Jack Dann. Voyager. p. 2. {{ISBN|0-7322-6719-6}}</ref> It was compared to Ingmar Bergman's film ''The Seventh Seal'' by the ''Washington Post'', and it was described as among the greatest science fiction novels by ''[[Science Fiction Age]]''.<ref name="MUP45" />

It was translated into French by Bernard Sigaud and published as ''La Grande Hurle'' in 1987, and also translated into German and published as ''Der Schmelzende Mensch'' in 1989.<ref name="dannbibliography" />

It was nominated for [[Nebula Award for Best Novel|best novel]] in the 1985 Nebula Award, and Best Science Fiction Novel in the 1985 Locus Award. Revised extracts and shorter versions were published under various titles, including the novella "Amnesia" which was published in ''The Berkley Showcase, Vol. 3: New Writings in Science Fiction and Fantasy'' in 1981 and was nominated for [[Nebula Award for Best Novella]] in 1982.<ref name="locusindexsfawards">{{cite web | title = Index of Literary Nominees | work = The Locus Index to SF Awards | url = http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit33.html#1220 | access-date = 2009-01-28 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081203143936/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit33.html#1220 | archive-date = 2008-12-03 }}</ref>

====''High Steel'' (1993) with Jack C. Haldeman, II====
Set in a 22nd-century Earth overshadowed by mega-corporations, the novel follows John Stranger, a Native American who is forced from his reservation home by the Trans-United company to work in orbital space construction. Stranger's shamanistic skills become prized by his employer to assist in a race against rival companies to decode an alien transmission containing blueprints for a faster-than-light space drive.

The novel was an expanded version of the novelette ''Echoes of Thunder'', which was published in a [[Tor Double Novels|Tor Double Novel]] volume with Harlan Ellison's ''Run for the Stars'' in 1991.<ref name="dannbibliography" /> Dann is working on a sequel entitled ''Ghost Dance'' with author [[Barbara Delaplace]]. Delaplace is the wife of Jack C. Haldeman, II, who died in 2002.<ref name="blackmore" />

====''The Memory Cathedral'' (1995)====
{{main|The Memory Cathedral}}
Dann's major historical novel depicts a version of the [[Renaissance]] in which [[Leonardo da Vinci]] actually constructs a number of his inventions, such as a flying machine, whose designs are well known from his surviving sketches. He later employs some of his [[Military engineer|military inventions]] during a battle in the Middle East, while in the service of a Syrian general – events which Dann projects into a year of da Vinci's life about which little is known. The novel also presents a detailed imagining of the life and character of the inventor and painter during this period, and includes his encounters with other historical characters residing in [[Florence]] including [[Machiavelli]] and [[Botticelli]].

The title refers to an [[Method of loci|ancient system]] of memory recall, or [[Mnemonics]], in which a building, such as a cathedral, is constructed in the mind as a container for imagined objects - which are deliberately connected to particular memories. The building can later be mentally navigated to re-encounter those objects and retrieve the memories with which they are associated. Da Vinci's memory cathedral functions in the narrative as a device through which he reviews his experiences as death approaches.<ref name="rudestam197">{{cite book | last1 = Rudestam | first1 = Kjell Erik | last2 = Schoenholtz-Read | first2 = Judith | title = Handbook of online learning: innovations in higher education and corporate training | page = 197 | publisher = SAGE | year = 2002 | isbn = 0-7619-2403-5}}</ref>

It was first published by [[Bantam Books]] in December 1995 and has been published in ten languages to date. It won the Australian [[Aurealis Award]] in 1997, was #1 on ''The Age'' bestseller list, and in 1996, a novella based on the novel, "Da Vinci Rising," was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Novella. ''The Memory Cathedral'' was also shortlisted for the Audio Book of the Year, which was part of the 1998 Braille & Talking Book Library Awards.<ref name="MUP45" />


====''The Silent'' (1998)====
Dann's second historical novel adopts a first person perspective, and is written in the form of a journal produced by Edmund "Mundy" McDowell, a teenager in 1862 during the [[American Civil War]], who writes as a form of therapy later in life – or possibly as a restless spirit. After his home is razed, and his mother raped and murdered by looters, he embarks upon a journey across wartime [[Virginia]]. The trauma of his experiences has rendered him mute, hence the title of the piece. It also colours his journey – which depicts the battlefield horrors of the American Civil War and its impact graphically - with visions of ghosts, spirits and an omnipresent "spirit dog" with symbolic resonances of the essence of warfare. 

====''Bad Medicine'' (2000; also known as ''Counting Coup'')====

This road trip novel relates the juvenile but revelatory antics of two men in their 60s, Charlie Sarris, an apartment supervisor and John Stone, a Native American [[medicine man]], who meets Charlie when he moves into his apartment block. Both characters are deeply flawed, lamenting their lost youth and first discover kinship in their copious consumption of alcohol. After Charlie discovers that his teenage daughter is pregnant, and can little cope with the parental responsibilities this implies, he accompanies John on a trip to [[Florida]], where John intends to confront his shamanistic rival, Whiteshirt.  The journey is marked by indulgent, illegal and destructive behavior on the part of both men, apparently influenced by a curse placed upon John by Whiteshirt, which equally affects Charlie and leaves them acting ostensibly as caricatures of the worst aspects of their natures.

The novel was published several years after completion, after being delayed by the collapse of original publisher, [[Bluejay Books]].<ref name="clutenicholls">{{cite book | last1 = Clute | first1 = John | last2 = Nicholls | first2 = Peter | author-link = John Clute | title = The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction | page = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc00ies1/page/298 298] | publisher = St. Martin's Press | year = 1993 | isbn = 0-312-09618-6 | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc00ies1/page/298 }}</ref> A novelette version, a revised excerpt from the novel, was published by in ''[[Asimov's Science Fiction|Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine]] 8'' in October 1984, and was shortlisted for Locus Award for Best Novelette, [[Nebula Award for Best Novelette]] and [[World Fantasy Award]] for Best Short Story in 1985.<ref name="locusindexsfawards" />

====''The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean'' (2004)====
Following on from the secret history and [[alternate history]] approach used in ''The Memory Cathedral'' and ''The Silent'', ''The Rebel'' supposes a version of the 1950s in which the actor [[James Dean]] survived his infamous fatal car crash, and goes on to become a major star, film director and later [[Governor]] of [[California]]. As with ''The Memory Cathedral'', the novel includes encounters with a number of other iconic figures of the period, including [[Marilyn Monroe]], the [[Kennedys|Kennedy family]] and [[Elvis Presley]].

This novel is published by HarperCollins Flamingo in Australia and Morrow in the U.S. ''Locus'' wrote: "''The Rebel'' is a significant and very gripping novel, a welcome addition to Jack Dann's growing oeuvre of speculative historical novels, sustaining further his long-standing contemplation of the modalities of myth and memory. This is alternate history with passion and difference."<ref>''Locus'', July 2004.</ref>  A companion volume, ''Promised Land'', appeared from [[PS Publishing]] in 2007 and further explores, through short stories and novellas, both elements of the actual and alternative 1950s setting as presented in the novel.

====''The Economy of Light'' (2008)====
[[Michael Swanwick]] provided an introduction to this short horror novel about a retired [[Nazi hunter]], whose siblings were murdered by Nazi prison doctor, [[Josef Mengele]]. He is propelled into an arduous and confronting journey into the [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon jungle]], in search of a rumored miracle working physician. This is instigated by the discovery of the purported remains of the infamous doctor, and the apparent need to purge the effects of a spiritual ailment, which strikes him at Mengele's graveside, and may be the source of diseases with which he has become afflicted.

It was nominated for a 2008 Aurealis Award in the category of Best Horror Novel.

===Poetry===
He has published poetry in collections, magazines, in the form of poetry postcards and a [[chapbook]] ''Christs and Other Poems'' (1978). The greater number of publications have been in ''The Anthology of Speculative Poetry'' and ''Rod Serling Presents The Twilight Zone Magazine''.<ref name="dannbibliography" />

===Fiction collaborations===
Since his initial collaborations with George Zebrowski, also forming his first published work, Jack Dann has undertaken joint fiction projects with a number of authors, including [[Susan Caspar]], [[Barry N. Malzberg]], Gardner Dozois, [[Jack C. Haldeman II]], Michael Swanwick and his wife, [[Janeen Webb]].<ref name="crecent">{{cite web | last = Smith | first = Teri |author2=Jean Marie Ward | title = Jack Dann: Leather Jackets and Leonardo | work = Crescent Blues | year = 2006 | url = http://www.crescentblues.com/8_12issue/int_dann.shtml | access-date = 2009-01-22}}</ref>  Dann and Webb's 1997 story, "Niagara Falling," won both the Aurealis Award and Ditmar Award for short fiction in 1998.<ref name="locusindexsfawards" />  Most collaborations have been in the short story form, and Dann published a collection of these in ''The Fiction Factory'' (2005). However, they have included novellas, and he has also written one novel with Jack C. Haldeman II, ''High Steel'' (1993). The majority of the book length publications with which he is associated are editorial collaborations.

==Writing==

===Style===
His stories are sometimes reminiscent in style to the work of [[Franz Kafka]] or Jorge Luis Borges and can be complex and challenging to the reader, with a considerable sense of mystery. They have great variety and are typically highly unpredictable. They often have a surreal, dreamlike or hallucinatory quality, playing with different types of reality. They may blur the distinction between subjective and objective viewpoints, with shifting conceptual landscapes and there is often a sense of nothing quite being what it seems. The language and the images used often have a poetic quality but his choice of expression is typically precise and can equally have considerable humor or a sense of darkness.<ref>Zelazny, Roger (1980), Introduction to: Timetipping by Jack Dann. Doubleday and Company, Inc. p. xii-xiii. {{ISBN|0-385-14338-9}}</ref>

===Technique===
He is known for his meticulous and extensive research of his subjects and their relevant setting, which has been a salient feature of his alternative history novels such as ''[[The Memory Cathedral]]'', ''[[The Rebel: an Imagined Life of James Dean]]'' and ''[[The Silent]]''.  In the case of ''The Rebel'', novel, he read over 100 books relating to the 1950s setting.  In keeping with the approach traditionally taken by scholars of history, he has expressed a preference for consulting [[primary source]]s, wherever possible.<ref name="crecent" /> He has also suggested that 'writer's block' is not necessarily a negative experience, but an invitation from the [[subconscious]] to conduct more research, either through study, or through gathering and processing further life experiences, thus refilling the subconscious pool of material to fuel further creative work.<ref name="morgenstern" /><ref name="kress">{{cite book | last = Kress | first = Nancy  | author-link = Nancy Kress | title = Beginnings, Middles and Ends | page = 99 | publisher = Writer's Digest Books | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-89879-905-8}}</ref>

He studied in [[Method acting]] in the 1960s, a technique which involves total immersion into a character's life, experiences, habits and outlook, and parallels this propensity for in depth research. He has made links between this training and his approach to developing his fictional characters. In the case of his novel ''Bad Medicine'', which includes a character who is a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] medicine man, he spent a year with the [[Sioux]] People, and participated in traditional ceremonies.<ref name="melloy">{{cite web | last = Melloy | first = Killian | title = Jack Dann interviewed by Kilian Melloy  | work = [[Infinity Plus]] |year = 2004 | url = http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intjd.htm | access-date = 2009-01-28}}</ref>

He advocates the development of writing technique through rigorous writing workshops, where emerging writers are guided by established writers, which he feels is a fast track to gaining a professional writing style. He attributes the emergence of a number of talented writers in the science fiction field to this process and also suggests that his own writing has been shaped by his participation these types of events, including the [[Milford Writer's Workshop]].<ref name="gevers">{{cite web|last=Gevers |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Gevers |title=J.D. meets J.D. as Jack Dann writes from down under about the imagined life of James Dean |work=Sci Fi Weekly |publisher=Sci Fi Channel |year=2006 |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue379/interview.html |access-date=2009-01-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009074920/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue379/interview.html |archive-date=October 9, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="blackmore" /> Since becoming an established writer, he has taught writing and run workshops on a regular basis.

===Genre===
He has written in multiple genres and has indicated that he enjoys and embraces the particular qualities and tropes of these genres, but does not see himself as confined to a particular genre when embarking on a writing project and may include aspects of a number of genres in a particular work. He views genres primarily as marketing categories, helping to guide readers towards fiction of interest to them and also useful in helping a writer to build up and sustain an audience for their work.<ref name="melloy" /> His fiction typically challenges the divide between literary and speculative fiction and can show equal resonances of writers in both traditions.<ref>Kessel, John (2001), Jack: Out of the Box; Introduction to: Jubilee by Jack Dann. Voyager. p. 1-2. {{ISBN|0-7322-6719-6}}</ref>

===Themes===
Charisma, memory, myth, witnessing the reality of [[The Holocaust]] and transformation are all themes in Dann's work he has either identified himself or have been highlighted by reviewers and commentators.<ref name="gevers" /><ref name="melloy" /> His stories often deal with achieving transcendent states, undertaking spiritual journeys or encountering confronting experiences that dramatically alter the psyche.<ref>Kessel, John (2001), Jack: Out of the Box; Introduction to: Jubilee by Jack Dann. Voyager. p. 3. {{ISBN|0-7322-6719-6}}</ref> Many involve young men who are liberated from naive origins by journeys marked by alien, revelatory or otherwise confrontational experiences which transform them, leaving them with a greater connection and awareness of their general environment or wider fields of consciousness. His first and second published novels, ''Starhiker'' and ''Junction'' and a significant number of his short stories are examples of this trend.<ref name="clutenicholls"/><ref name="D'Ammassa">{{cite book | last = D'Ammassa | first = Don |  title = Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction (Library Movements) | publisher = Facts on File, Inc | date = 2005-05-01 | isbn = 0816059241}}</ref> He has linked this preoccupation with his experience of coming close to death as a young man, following his hospitalisation in 1965, which he claims had a similar transformational effect on his character.<ref name="melloy" />

Dann is also notable in the science fiction field for having written a number of stories with [[Jewish]] themes. Dann has a Jewish background, and although affirming an affinity with the cultural aspects of this, has distanced himself from the theological tenets of Judaism due to his atheist outlook.<ref name="gevers" />

===Influences===
Dann has acknowledged the influence of a range of writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, [[Gabriel García Márquez]], [[J.D. Salinger]] and J.G. Ballard. He has suggested particular influence from [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s memoir of his 'down and out' days in Paris in the early 1920s, ''[[A Moveable Feast]].''<ref name="influences">Atkinson, Frances (compiled by). "Influences". ''[[The Sunday Age]]''. Agenda Section. p. 10, 2001-07-29.</ref> Dann read this book during his convalescence from life-threatening illness in 1965, a key character forming event in his personal history.<ref name="morgenstern" />

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Work  !! Year & Award!!  Category !! Result !! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="2" |"Junction"
|1974 [[Nebula Award]]
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1974 [[Locus Award]]
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=sfadb: Locus Awards 1974 | website=Science Fiction Awards Database | date=2012-09-11 | url=https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_1974 | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Wandering Stars (anthology)|Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction]]''
|1975 Locus Award
|Original Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"The Dybbuk Dolls"
|1976 Nebula Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''Future Power''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|1977 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"A Quiet Revolution for Death"
|1979 Nebula Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1979 Locus Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Immortals (anthology)|Immortals]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|1979 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |"Camps"
|1980 Nebula Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1980 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1980 [[BSFA Award]]
|Short Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=sfadb: British SF Association Awards 1980 | website=Science Fiction Awards Database | date=2012-09-11 | url=https://www.sfadb.com/British_SF_Association_Awards_1980 | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" |"Going Under"
|1982 Nebula Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1982 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Fairy Tale"
|1982 [[World Fantasy Award]]
|Short Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"Amnesia"
|1982 Nebula Award
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1982 Locus Award
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''More Wandering Stars''
|1982 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"High Steel"
''(with [[Jack C. Haldeman II]])''
|1983 Nebula Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1983 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |"Blind Shemmy"
|1984 Nebula Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1984 SF Chronicle Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=1984 SF Chronicle Award | website=The Internet Speculative Fiction Database | date=2006-04-24 | url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?36+1984 | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>{{User-generated inline|date=August 2025}}
|-
|1984 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |"Bad Medicine"
|1985 World Fantasy Award
|Short Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1985 Nebula Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1985 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''The Man Who Melted''
|1985 Nebula Award
|Novel
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1985 Locus Award
|SF Novel
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"The Gods of Mars"
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]] & [[Michael Swanwick]])''
|1986 Nebula Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1986 Locus Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Bestiary!]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|1986 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''In the Field of Fire''
''(with Jeanne Van Buren Dann)''
|1988 World Fantasy Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|1988 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Tea"
|1989 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Kaddish"
|1990 Locus Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Voices"
|1992 Locus Award
|Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Jumping The Road"
|1993 Locus Award
|Novelette
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''The Memory Cathedral''
|1996 [[Aurealis Award]]
|Fantasy Novel
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|1997 [[Ditmar Award]]
|Australian Long Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"Da Vinci Rising"
|1996 Asimov's Readers' Poll
|Novella
|{{CFinalist|5th Place}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=1996 Asimov's Readers' Poll | website=The Internet Speculative Fiction Database | date=2006-04-24 | url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?3+1996 | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>{{User-generated inline|date=August 2025}}
|-
|1997 Nebula Award
|Novella
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |"Niagara Falling"
''(with [[Janeen Webb]])''
|1997 Aurealis Award
|Science Fiction Short Story
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|1998 Ditmar Award
|Short Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Nebula Awards 32]]''
|1999 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Nanotech (anthology)|Nanotech]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|1999 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |''Dreaming Down-Under''
''(with [[Janeen Webb]])''
|1999 Ditmar Award
|Australian Magazine or Anthology
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|1999 World Fantasy Award
|Anthology
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|1999 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Marilyn"
|2000 Aurealis Award
|Horror Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |"[[The Diamond Pit]]"
|2001 Aurealis Award
|Science Fiction Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2001 Aurealis Award
|Fantasy Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2002 [[Hugo Award]]
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2002 Ditmar Award
|Australian Short Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2002 Nebula Award
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2002 Locus Award
|Novella
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''Jubilee''
|2002 Ditmar Award
|Australian Collected Work
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2002 Locus Award
|Collection
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |''Gathering the Bones''
''(with [[Ramsey Campbell]] and [[Dennis Etchison]])''
|2003 [[International Horror Guild Award]]
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=International Horror Guild | website=International Horror Guild | date=2007-11-01 | url=https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>
|-
|2003 [[Bram Stoker Award]]
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2004 World Fantasy Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2004 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''The Rebel''
|2004 Aurealis Award
|Science Fiction Novel
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2005 [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel|John W. Campbell Memorial Award]]
|Science Fiction Novel
|{{CFinalist}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Nebula Awards Showcase 2005]]''
|2006 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Futures Past]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|2007 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''[[Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space|Escape from Earth]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|2007 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |''[[Wizards (Ace anthology)|Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy]]''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|2007 [[Shirley Jackson Award]]
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=2007 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners – The Shirley Jackson Awards | website=The Shirley Jackson Awards – The Shirley Jackson Awards | date=2025-06-09 | url=https://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/award-winners/2007-shirley-jackson-awards-winners/ | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>
|-
|2008 World Fantasy Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2008 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''The Economy of Light''
|2008 Aurealis Award
|Horror Novel
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |''Dreaming Again''
|2008 Aurealis Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2009 Ditmar Award
|Collected Work
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2009 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''The Dragon Book''
''(with [[Gardner Dozois]])''
|2010 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |''Ghosts By Gaslight''
''(with [[Nick Gevers]])''
|2011 Bram Stoker Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2011 Aurealis Award
|Anthology
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2011 Shirley Jackson Award
|Anthology
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2012 Locus Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''Concentration''
|2016 [[Australian Shadows Awards]]
|Collected Works
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2016 Aurealis Award
|Collection
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |"Trainspotting in Winesburg"
|2016 Aurealis Award
|Science Fiction Short Story
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |''Dreaming in the Dark''
|2016 Australian Shadows Awards
|Edited Work
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2016 Aurealis Award
|Anthology
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2017 Ditmar Award
|Collected Work
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2017 World Fantasy Award
|Anthology
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''I’m Looking Right At You, HP Lovecraft''
|2021 Australian Shadows Awards
|Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History''
|2024 Locus Award
|Non-Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |
|2008 Aurealis Award
|[[Convenors' Award for Excellence (Aurealis Award)|Convenors' Award for Excellence]]
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |
|Premios Gilgamés de Narrativa Fantastica award
|
|{{Won}}
|<ref>{{cite web | title=Biography | website=The Official Jack Dann website | date=2020-07-21 | url=https://jackdann.com/biography/ | access-date=2025-08-27}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=August 2025}}
|-
|}

Dann has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). He has been shortlisted for major science fiction and fantasy awards on numerous occasions.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==Reference works==
As part of its Bibliographies of Modern Authors Series, The [[Borgo Press]] has published an annotated bibliography & guide entitled ''The Work of Jack Dann''. An updated second edition is in progress. Dann is also listed in ''[[Contemporary Authors]]'' and the Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series; ''The International Authors and Writers Who's Who''; ''Personalities of America''; ''Men of Achievement''; ''Who's Who in Writers, Editors, and Poets, United States and Canada''; ''Dictionary of International Biography''; the ''Directory of Distinguished Americans''; ''Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century''; and ''Who's Who in the World''.

=='The Man Who Melted Jack Dann'==
{{Main|The Man Who Melted Jack Dann}}

The Man Who Melted Jack Dann is a word game inspired by Jack Dann's book ''The Man Who Melted'' (1984). The aim is to place the writer's name in front or behind the title of one of the writer's books and see if it leads to a funny sentence.

==Bibliography==
{{Incomplete list|date=July 2017}}

===Novels===
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |title=Starhiker : a novel |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1977 <!--|isbn=0672520699-->}}
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |author-mask=1 |title=Bad medicine }}
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |author-mask=1 |title=Junction }}
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |author-mask=1 |title=The man who melted |year=1984 |publisher=Bluejay Books |isbn=9780312942939 |url=https://archive.org/details/manwhomelted00dann |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |author-mask=1 |title=The memory cathedral |year=1995 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=9780553096378 |url=https://archive.org/details/memorycathedral00dann |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |author=Dann, Jack |author-mask=1 |title=The silent |year=1998 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=9780553097160 |url=https://archive.org/details/silent00dann |url-access=registration }}

===Short fiction===
;Stories<ref>Short stories unless otherwise noted.</ref>
{|class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'
|-
!width=25%|Title
!|Year
!|First published
!|Reprinted/collected
!|Notes
|-
|Marilyn
|2000
|{{cite journal |author=Dann, Jack |date=Aug 2000 |title=Marilyn |journal=[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|F&SF]] |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=44–56 }}
|
|
|-
|Waiting for Medusa
|2013
|{{cite journal |author=Dann, Jack |date=Oct–Nov 2013 |title=Waiting for Medusa |journal=Asimov's Science Fiction |volume=37 |issue=10–11 |pages=82–94}}
|
|}
;Anthologies
* {{cite book |editor=Dann, Jack |title=Wandering Stars |year=1998 |publisher=Jewish Lights Pub. |isbn=9781580230056 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781580230056 |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |editor=Dann, Jack |editor-mask=1 |title=More Wandering Stars |year=1981 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=9780385170727 |url=https://archive.org/details/morewanderingsta00dann |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |editor=Dann, Jack |editor-mask=1 |title=Dreaming Again |year=2008 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780061364082 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780061364082 |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Dann, Jack |editor2=Janeen Webb |name-list-style=amp |title=Dreaming Down-Under |year=2001 |isbn=9780312878115 |url=https://archive.org/details/dreamingdownunde0000dann |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Dann, Jack |editor2=Gardner Dozois |name-list-style=amp |title=The Dragon Book |year=2009 |publisher=Ace Books |isbn=9780441017645 |url=https://archive.org/details/dragonbookmagica00jack |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Dann, Jack |editor2=Jonathan Strahan |name-list-style=amp |title=Australian Legends }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Dann, Jack |editor2=Nick Gevers |name-list-style=amp |title=Ghosts by Gaslight }}

===Checklists and bibliographies===
* {{cite book |author=Blackmore, Leigh |author-link=Leigh Blackmore |title=Ellison/Dowling/Dann : a bibliographic checklist |publisher=R'lyeh Texts |year=1996 }}

===Further reading===
* [[Blackmore, Leigh]] "Time and Memory: An Interview with Jack Dann" (2003) [https://www.tabula-rasa.info/AusHorror/JackDann.html]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://jackdann.com Jack Dann Website]
* {{isfdb name|id=Jack_Dann}} (includes bibliography)
* [http://www.harpercollins.com.au/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=50000637&isbn13=9780732259518&displayType=readingGuide  Reading guide to ''The Memory Cathedral'' ]
* [http://www.harpercollins.com.au/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=50000637&isbn13=9780732278441&displayType=readingGuide  Reading guide to ''The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean'' ]
* [http://www.harpercollins.com.au/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=50000637&isbn13=9780732267421&displayType=readingGuide  Reading guide to ''The Silent'' ]
* [http://www.harpercollins.com.au/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=50000637&isbn13=9780732259549&displayType=readingGuide  Reading guide to ''Bad Medicine'' ]
{{Nebula Award Best Novella}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Anthology}}

{{Authority control}}

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