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{{Short description|American writer}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = R. A. Lafferty
| image            = R. A. Lafferty, in his library (cropped).jpg
| image_size       = 200px
| caption          = Lafferty in his library in 1998<!--Photo by Keith Purtell.-->
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Raphael Aloysius Lafferty
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1914|11|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Neola, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2002|3|18|1914|11|7|mf=y}}
| death_place      = [[Broken Arrow, Oklahoma]], U.S.
| occupation       = Novelist, short story author
| genre            = [[Science fiction]], [[Fantasy]]
| notableworks     = ''[[Past Master (novel)|Past Master]]'', ''Space Chantey'', ''[[Fourth Mansions]]'', ''Nine Hundred Grandmothers'', ''Okla Hannali''
}}

'''Raphael Aloysius''' "'''R. A.'''" '''Lafferty''' (November 7, 1914{{spaced ndash}}March 18, 2002) was an American [[science fiction]], [[fantasy]] and [[historical fiction]] writer best known for his imaginative and eccentric short stories and novels from the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>[[Gene Wolfe]] wrote in an introduction to ''Episodes of the Argo'' that ''"[Lafferty may be] the most original writer in the history of literature"''; [[Michael Swanwick]] has written that ''"if there were no Lafferty, we would lack the imagination to invent him"'' (quoted on the back cover of the original edition of ''Lafferty in Orbit''); [[Neil Gaiman]] said that ''"[Lafferty's] stories are without precedent"''; and [[Harlan Ellison]] wrote that ''"Lafferty defies categorization; his work is unlike anyone else's"''.</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="NYTObit" />

==Life and work==
{{Moresources|section|date=October 2022}}
Lafferty was born on November 7, 1914, in [[Neola, Iowa]]<ref name="NYTObit"/> to devoutly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] parents, Hugh David Lafferty, a broker dealing in oil leases and royalties, and Julia Mary ({{nee}} Burke), a teacher. Both were first-generation [[Irish Americans]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=R. A. Lafferty {{!}} Research Starters {{!}} EBSCO Research |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/r-lafferty |access-date=2025-11-05 |website=EBSCO |language=en}}</ref> He was born the youngest of five siblings. His first name, Raphael, derived from the day on which he was expected to be born (the Feast of [[Raphael (archangel)|St. Raphael]]). When he was four, his family moved to [[Perry, Oklahoma]].<ref name="NYTObit"/>

He graduated from [[Cascia Hall Preparatory School|Cascia Hall]],<ref name="Mar 2002">"Sci-fi author R.A. Lafferty rites set", ''[[Tulsa World]]'', March 21, 2002. Accessed March 31, 2010.</ref> and came of age in the early years of the [[Great Depression]]. He studied in the night school division at the [[University of Tulsa]] in 1932–33, mostly studying math and German, but left before graduating.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/lccn_425022749 |title=Dangerous visions |date=1972 |publisher=New York, N.Y. : Berkley Medallion Book |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-425-02274-0 |pages=481}}</ref> In 1935, he began to work for Clark Electrical Supply Company in [[Tulsa]] and, from 1939 to 1942, attended the [[International Correspondence School]]. One of his hobbies was studying languages.<ref name=":2" /> Per ''[[The New York Times]]'', "He taught himself [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] in order to read the [[New Testament]] in the original."<ref name="NYTObit"/>

He enlisted in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] in 1942. After training in [[Texas]], [[North Carolina]], [[Florida]], and [[California]], he was sent to the [[South Pacific Area]], serving in [[Australia]], [[New Guinea]], [[Morotai]] and the [[Philippines]]. When he left the Army in 1946, he had become a 1st Sergeant serving as a [[Staff Sergeant#United States military|staff sergeant]] and had received an [[Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal]].<ref> [https://web.archive.org/web/20041025093113/https://www-perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/Awards/ASIATIC-PACIFIC1.html Awards], perscom.army.mil. Accessed October 1, 2022.</ref> He returned to his sales position at Clark and turned to writing in the late 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |last=Petersen |first=Daniel Otto Jack |title=‘You Are the Old Entrapped Dreams of the Coyote’s Brains Oozing Liquid Through the Broken Eye Socket’: Ecomonstrous poetics and weird bioregionalism in the fiction of R. A. Lafferty (with a comparative reading of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian) |date=2020 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Glasgow |url=https://theses.gla.ac.uk/81615/ |language=en}}</ref> He never married and lived most of his life in Tulsa with his sister, Anna Lafferty.<ref name="NYTObit"/>

Although Lafferty did not begin writing until his mid-40s, he wrote dozens of novels and more than two hundred short stories, most of them at least nominally science fiction.<ref name=":0" /> His first published story was "The Wagons" in the ''New Mexico Quarterly Review'' in 1959. His first published science fiction story was "Day of the Glacier", in ''The Original Science Fiction Stories'' in 1960, and his [[debut novel]] was [[Past Master (novel)|''Past Master'']] in 1968.<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |title=Rafael A. Lafferty, 87, Science Fiction Writer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/29/us/rafael-a-lafferty-87-science-fiction-writer.html?scp=15 |date=March 29, 2002 |access-date=March 31, 2010}}</ref> In the same year, he also published ''The Reefs of Earth'' and ''Space Chantey'', a science fiction retelling of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', which was then followed by ''[[Fourth Mansions]]'' (1969), a work inspired by [[Teresa of Ávila]].<ref name=SF/>

Around 1980, his output declined due to a stroke. He stopped writing regularly in 1984.<ref name="Locus">"R.A. Lafferty (1914–2002), ''Locus'', May 2002, p.9, 68.</ref> In 1994, he suffered another, more severe, stroke.

Lafferty's work was represented by [[Virginia Kidd]] Literary Agency,<ref>[http://www.sfwa.org/News/kidd.htm "Virginia Kidd (1921–2003)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930152501/http://www.sfwa.org/News/kidd.htm|date=2007-09-30}}</ref> which held a cache of his unpublished manuscripts.<ref name="Locus" /> This included over a dozen novels, such as ''Iron Tongue of Midnight'', as well as about eighty short stories and a handful of essays.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 18, 2016 |title=Paul Di Filippo reviews R.A. Lafferty |url=http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2016/03/paul-di-filippo-reviews-r-a-lafferty/}}</ref>

== Death and legacy ==
He died on March 18, 2002, aged 87 in a nursing home in [[Broken Arrow, Oklahoma]]. Lafferty's funeral took place at Christ the King Catholic Church in Tulsa, where he regularly attended daily Mass. He is buried at St. Rose Catholic Cemetery in Perry.<ref name="Mar 2002" />

His collected papers, drafts of novels and short stories, artifacts, and ephemera were donated to the University of Tulsa's McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: R.A. Lafferty papers {{!}} The University of Tulsa Archival Catalog |url=https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/197 |access-date=2025-11-05 |website=utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com}}</ref> A smaller collection, donated by Lafferty in 1979, is also housed in the [[University of Iowa Libraries]]' Special Collections department.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lafferty, R.A (Raphael Aloysius) |url=https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/491886 |website=ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>

In March 2011, it was announced in [[Locus (magazine)|''Locus'']] that the copyrights to 29 Lafferty novels and 225 short stories were up for sale.<ref>{{cite web |title=SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 3/3/11 |url=http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/03/sf-tidbits-for-3311/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307004152/http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/03/sf-tidbits-for-3311/ |archive-date=2011-03-07 |access-date=2011-03-10}}</ref><ref>[http://www.sfsite.com/news/2011/03/02/lafferty-estate-for-sale/ Lafferty estate for sale] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603074418/http://www.sfsite.com/news/2011/03/02/lafferty-estate-for-sale/|date=June 3, 2019}}, sfsite.com. Accessed October 1, 2022.</ref><ref>[http://locusmag.com/2011/Ads/digitallafferty.jpg Profile], locusmag.com. Accessed October 1, 2022.</ref> The literary estate was soon thereafter purchased by the magazine's nonprofit foundation, under the auspices of board member [[Neil Gaiman]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lafferty Lost and Found &#124; This Land Press - Made by You and Me |url=http://thislandpress.com/11/05/2014/lafferty-lost-and-found/?read=complete |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109083154/http://thislandpress.com/11/05/2014/lafferty-lost-and-found/?read=complete |archive-date=November 9, 2014 |accessdate=October 1, 2022}}</ref>

=== Holocaust denial ===
In July 2025, it was revealed that the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at McFarlin Library houses materials related to Lafferty’s [[Holocaust denial]], such as a letter in which Lafferty categorically denies the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Correspondence, 1990 Jan-May {{!}} The University of Tulsa Archival Catalog |url=https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/40242 |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Antisemitism |url=https://www.arriveateasterwine.com/about-4-1 |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=The Reefs of Earth |language=en}}</ref> It also archives his collection of Holocaust denial materials and handwritten notes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute for Historical Review, Undated {{!}} The University of Tulsa Archival Catalog |url=https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/40191 |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Antisemitism |url=https://www.arriveateasterwine.com/about-4-1 |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=The Reefs of Earth |language=en}}</ref> Special Collections is undertaking an evaluation of the labeling of these materials.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==Writing style==
In his 2006 short story collection ''[[Fragile Things]]'', [[Neil Gaiman]] includes a short story called "Sunbird" written in the style of Lafferty. In the introduction, he says this about Lafferty:<blockquote> There was a writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma (he died in 2002), who was, for a little while in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the best short story writer in the world. His name was R. A. Lafferty, and his stories were unclassifiable and odd and inimitable -- you knew you were reading a Lafferty story within a sentence. When I was young I wrote to him, and he wrote back.<br>"Sunbird" was my attempt to write a Lafferty story, and it taught me a number of things, mostly how much harder they are than they look....<ref>Introduction to ''Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders'' by Neil Gaiman, William Morrow Publisher (2006), pg. xxvii</ref></blockquote>

Gaiman and Lafferty had corresponded for several years during Gaiman's adolescence; he remembered Lafferty's letters as "filled with typical cock-eyed Lafferty humour and observations, wise and funny and sober all at once."<ref>"Lafferty", Neil Gaiman, ''Locus'', May 2002, pg. 68.</ref>

Per ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'': <blockquote>He has fairly been described as a writer of tall tales, as a cartoonist, as an author whose tone was fundamentally oral; his conservative Catholicism has been seen as permeating every word he wrote (or has been ignored); he has been seen as a ransacker of old Mythologies, and as a flippant generator of new ones; he clearly delighted in a vision of the world as being irradiated by conspiracies both godly and devilish, but at times paid scant attention to the niceties of plotting; he has been understood by some as essentially light-hearted and by others as a solitary, stringent moralist; he was technically inventive, but lunged constantly into a slapdash sublime only skittishly evocative, and only occasionally, of anything like the traditional Sense of Wonder; his skill in the deploying of various rhetorical narrative voices was manifest, but these voices were sometimes choked in baroque flamboyance. ... He and [[Gene Wolfe]] have more than a shared faith in common.<ref name=SF>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Lafferty, R.A.|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lafferty_r_a|year=2023|access-date=10 January 2024}}</ref></blockquote>He has also been compared to the English writer [[G. K. Chesterton]]: "<nowiki>[Once a]</nowiki> French publisher nervously asked whether Lafferty minded being compared to [[G. K. Chesterton]] (another Catholic author), and there was a terrifying silence that went on and on. Was the great man hideously offended? Eventually, very slowly, he said: 'You're on the right track, kid,' and wandered away."<ref>From an [[SFX magazine]] column by [[David Langford]]; issue #92, June 2002.</ref>

==Themes==
Lafferty's quirky prose<ref name="NYTObit"/> drew from traditional storytelling styles, largely from the [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]], and his [[Shaggy dog story|shaggy-dog characters and tall tales]] are unique in science fiction. Little of Lafferty's writing is considered typical of the genre. His stories are closer to [[tall tale]]s than traditional science fiction and are deeply influenced by his [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] beliefs; ''[[Fourth Mansions]]'', for example, draws on ''The Interior Mansions'' of [[Teresa of Ávila]].

His writings, both topically and stylistically, are not easy to categorize. Plot is frequently secondary to other elements of Lafferty's writing. While this style has resulted in a loyal cult following, it causes some readers to give up reading his work. Not all of Lafferty's work was science fiction or fantasy. His novel ''[[Okla Hannali]]'' (1972), published by University of Oklahoma Press, tells the story of the [[Choctaw]] in [[Mississippi]], and after the [[Trail of Tears]], in [[Oklahoma]], through an account of the larger-than-life character Hannali and his large family. This novel was thought of highly by the novelist [[Dee Brown (novelist)|Dee Brown]], author of ''[[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee]]'' (1970), who on the back cover of the edition published by the [[University of Oklahoma Press]], writes "The history of the Choctaw Indians has been told before and is still being told, but it has never been told in the way Lafferty tells it ... Hannali is a buffalo bull of a man who should become one of the enduring characters in the literature of the American Indian." He also wrote, "It is art applied to history so that the legend of the Choctaws, their great and small men, their splendid humor, and their tragedies are filled with life and breath."

Like the work of [[Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton|Chesterton and Belloc]], Lafferty's writing occasionally shows evidence of [[antisemitism]]. For instance, his novella ''The'' ''Three Armageddons of Enniscorthy Sweeny'' (1977) is a history of the 20th century that erases the Jewish Holocaust.<ref name=":1" />  

==Recognition==
Lafferty received [[Hugo Award]] nominations for ''Past Master'', "Continued on Next Rock", "Sky", and "Eurema's Dam", the last of which won the Best Short Story Hugo in 1973 (shared with [[Frederik Pohl]] and [[Cyril M. Kornbluth]]'s "The Meeting").<ref>[http://worldcon.org/hy.html#73] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120190123/http://www.worldcon.org/hy.html|date=2013-01-20}}</ref>

He received [[Nebula Award]] nominations for "In Our Block", "Slow Tuesday Night", ''Past Master'', ''Fourth Mansions'', "Continued on Next Rock", "Entire And Perfect Chrysolite", and ''The Devil is Dead''. He never received a Nebula award.<ref name="Locus"/>

His collection ''Lafferty in Orbit'' was nominated for a [[World Fantasy Award]], and in 1990, Lafferty received a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite web |title=Winners |url=https://worldfantasy.org/awards/winners/ |publisher=World Fantasy Convention |access-date=6 August 2025}}</ref> His 1992 collection ''Iron Tears'' was also a finalist for the [[Philip K. Dick Award]].<ref name="Locus"/> In 2002, he received the [[Cordwainer Smith]] Foundation's [[Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award|Rediscovery]] award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/lafferty.htm|title = R. A. Lafferty, winner of the 2002 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award}}</ref>

The [[Oklahoma Department of Libraries]] granted him the [[Arrell Gibson]] Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.odl.state.ok.us/ocb/pastgib.htm|title = OK Dept. Of Libraries – working to preserve history, expand knowledge, and enrich lives}}</ref>

''[[Fourth Mansions]]'' was also named by [[David Pringle]] as one of his selections for ''[[Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels]]''.

==Bibliography==
===Novels===
* ''[[Past Master (novel)|Past Master]]'' (Ace Books, 1968)
* ''[[The Reefs of Earth]]'' (Berkley Medallion, 1968)
* ''[[Space Chantey]]'' (Ace Books, 1968)
* ''[[Fourth Mansions]]'' (Ace Books, 1969)
* ''[[Arrive at Easterwine: The Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine]]'' (Scribner's, 1971)
* ''[[The Devil is Dead|The Devil Is Dead]]'' (Avon, 1971). Second (chronologically) in "The Devil Is Dead" trilogy.
* ''The Fall of Rome'' (1971). Later reprinted as ''Alaric: The Day the World Ended'' (United Mythologies Press, 1993).
* ''The Flame Is Green'' (Walker & Co., 1971). First in the unfinished Coscuin Chronicles.
* ''[[Okla Hannali]]'' (Doubleday, 1972)
* ''[[Not to Mention Camels]]'' (Bobbs-Merrill, 1976)
* ''[[Apocalypses (collection)|Apocalypses]]'' (Pinnacle Books, 1977). Composed of two novels: ''Where Have You Been, Sandaliotis?'' and ''The Three Armageddons of Enniscorthy Sweeney''.
* ''[[Archipelago (novel)|Archipelago]]'' (Manuscript Press, 1979). First (chronologically) in "The Devil Is Dead" trilogy.
* ''[[Aurelia (novel)|Aurelia]]'' (Starblaze, 1982)
* ''[[Annals of Klepsis]]'' (Ace Books, 1983)
* ''Half a Sky'' (Corroboree, 1984). Second in the unfinished Coscuin Chronicles.
* ''[[Serpent's Egg (novel)|Serpent's Egg]]'' (Morrigan Publications, 1987)
* ''[[East of Laughter]]'' (Morrigan Publications, 1988)
* ''Sindbad: The Thirteenth Voyage'' (Broken Mirrors Press, 1989)
* ''The Elliptical Grave'' (United Mythologies Press, 1989). Also includes the story: "The Man Who Lost His Magic".
* ''Dotty'' (United Mythologies Press, 1990)
* ''Tales of Chicago'' (United Mythologies Press, 1992). First part of ''More Than Melchisedech'', third (chronologically) in "The Devil Is Dead" trilogy.
* ''Tales of Midnight'' (United Mythologies Press, 1992). Second part of ''More Than Melchisedech''.
* ''Argo'' (United Mythologies Press, 1992). Third part of ''More Than Melchisedech''.

===Short story collections===

* ''The Six Fingers of Time and Other Stories'' (Macfadden Books, 1965)
* ''[[Nine Hundred Grandmothers]]'' (Ace Books, 1970)
* ''[[Strange Doings]]'' (Scribner's, 1972)
* ''[[Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?]]'' (Scribner's, 1974)
* ''Golden Gate and Other Stories'' (Corroboree, 1982)
* ''Through Elegant Eyes'' (Corroboree, 1983)
* ''Ringing Changes'' (Ace Books, 1984)
* ''Episodes of the Argo'' (United Mythologies Press, 1990)
* ''Mischief Malicious (And Murder Most Strange)'' (United Mythologies Press, 1991)
* ''[[Lafferty in Orbit]]'' (Broken Mirrors Press, 1991)
* ''[[Iron Tears]]'' (Edgewood Press, 1992)

=== Anthologies ===

* ''The Collected Short Fiction'' (Centipede Press, 2014–2025)
** ''The Man Who Made Models – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 1'' (2014)
** ''The Man With the Aura – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 2'' (2015)
** ''The Man Underneath – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 3'' (2015)
** ''The Man With The Speckled Eyes – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 4'' (2017)
** ''The Man Who Walked Through Cracks – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 5'' (2018)
** ''The Man Who Never Was – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 6'' (2021'')''
** ''Mad Man – The Collected Short Fiction Volume 7'' (2023)
** ''The Man Who Lost His Magic'' ''– The Collected Short Fiction Volume 8'' (2025)

* ''More Than Melchisedech'' (2015). Compiles ''Tales of Chicago'', ''Tales of Midnight'' and ''Argo''. Third (chronologically) in "The Devil Is Dead" trilogy.
* ''Three Great Novels: Space Chantey, Fourth Mansions, Past Master'' (Gollancz, 2018)

* ''[[The Best of R. A. Lafferty]]'' (Gollancz, 2019; Tor, 2021)

=== Chapbooks ===

* ''Horns on Their Heads'' (Pendragon Press, 1976)
* ''Funnyfingers & Cabrito'' (Pendragon Press, 1976)
* ''Four Stories'' (Drumm Booklet #7, 1983)
* ''Laughing Kelly and Other Verses'' (Drumm Booklet #11, 1983)
* ''Heart of Stone, Dear and Other Stories'' (Drumm Booklet #12, 1983)
* ''Snake in His Bosom and Other Stories'' (Drumm Booklet #13, 1983)
* ''The Man Who Made Models and Other Stories'' (Drumm Booklet #18, 1984)
* ''Slippery and Other Stories'' (Drumm Booklet #19, 1985)
* ''My Heart Leaps Up'', in five installments (Drumm Booklets, 1986–90). First book of the "In a Green Tree" autobiographical series.
* ''Strange Skies'' (United Mythologies Press, 1988)
* ''Promontory Goats'' (United Mythologies Press, 1988)
* ''The Back Door of History'' (United Mythologies Press, 1988)
* ''The Early Lafferty'' (United Mythologies Press, 1988)
* ''How Many Miles to Babylon?'' (United Mythologies Press, 1989)
* ''The Early Lafferty II'' (United Mythologies Press, 1990)

===Non-fiction===

* ''It's Down the Slippery Cellar Stairs'' (Drumm Booklet #14, 1984). Essay collection; later revised and expanded (Borgo Press, 1995).
* ''True Believers'' (United Mythologies Press, 1989). Essays, introductions and reviews.
* ''Cranky Old Man from Tulsa'' (United Mythologies Press, 1990). Two interviews.

===Selected short stories===
<!--imbedded externals are contrary to Wikipedia guidelines and will need to be turned into footnotes-->
* "Through Other Eyes" (''Future Science Fiction'', February 1960)
* "All the People" (''Galaxy Science Fiction'', April 1961)
* "The Weirdest World" (''Galaxy'', June 1961)
* "Aloys" (''Galaxy'', August 1961)
* "Rainbird" (''Galaxy'', December 1961)
* "Dream" (''Galaxy'', June 1962)
* "Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas" (''Galaxy'', December 1962)
* "What the Name of That Town?" (''Galaxy'', October 1964)
* "Slow Tuesday Night" (''Galaxy'', April 1965)
* "Among the Hairy Earthmen" (''Galaxy'', August 1966)
* "[[Land of the Great Horses]]" in ''[[Dangerous Visions]]'' (Doubleday, 1967)
* "Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" (''Galaxy'', February 1967)
* "How They Gave It Back" (''Galaxy'', February 1968)
* "McGruder's Marvels" (''Galaxy'', July 1968)
* "[[Eurema's Dam]]" in ''[[New Dimensions II]]'' (Doubleday, 1972)
* "The World as Will and Wallpaper" in ''Future City'' (Trident Press, 1973)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?58355 |title=Title: The World as Will and Wallpaper |website=www.isfdb.org |access-date=November 7, 2021}}</ref>

== Awards and honors ==

* 1965: Nominated for [[Nebula Award for Best Short Story|Nebula Award]] for "In Our Block" and "Slow Tuesday Night"
* 1970: Nominated for Nebula Award for "Entire and Perfect Chrysolite"
* 1968: Nominated for [[Nebula Award for Best Novel|Nebula Award]] for ''[[Past Master (novel)|Past Master]]''
* 1969: Nominated for [[Hugo Award for Best Novel|Hugo Award]] for ''Past Master''
* 1970: Nominated for Nebula Award for ''[[Fourth Mansions]]''
* 1970: Nominated for [[Nebula Award for Best Novelette|Nebula Award]] for "Continued on Next Rock"
* 1971: Nominated for [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story|Hugo Award]] for "Continued on Next Rock"
* 1971: Nominated for Nebula Award for ''The Devil Is Dead''
* 1972: Nominated for Hugo Award for "Sky"
* 1973: Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "[[Eurema's Dam]]"
* 1983: Nominated for [[Philip K. Dick Award]] for ''[[Aurelia (novel)|Aurelia]]''
* 1990: [[World Fantasy Award—Life Achievement]]
* 1992: Nominated for [[World Fantasy Award—Collection|World Fantasy Award]] for ''Lafferty in Orbit''
* 1993: Nominated for Philip K. Dick Award for ''Iron Tears''
* 2002: [[Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award]]

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |publisher=United Mythologies Press |year=1990 |isbn=9780921322160 |ol=1283704M |location=Weston, Ontario, Canada |title=Cranky Old Man from Tulsa: Interviews with R. A. Lafferty |author=R. A. Lafferty |date= |oclc=26768241 |id=092132216X}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-09-30 |title=Cranky Old Man from Tulsa: Interviews with R. A. Lafferty |url=http://demo.openlibrary.org/b/Cranky_old_man_Lafferty |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181422/http://demo.openlibrary.org/b/Cranky_old_man_Lafferty |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=Open Library}}</ref>
* {{Citation |title=Unpublished Lafferty: 1 |url=http://www.nyrsf.com/2012/01/ |author=Andrew Ferguson |work=NYRSF |issue=281 |date=January 2012}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
;Digital editions
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/r-a-lafferty}}
** {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/r-a-lafferty/short-fiction|Display Name=An omnibus collection of Lafferty's public domain short fiction|noitalics=true}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=25720| name=R. A. Lafferty}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Raphael Aloysius Lafferty}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2321}}

;Fan pages
* [http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/RAL R. A. Lafferty Devotional Page]
* [http://www.feastoflaughter.org/ Feast of Laughter], a semi-annual fanzine dedicated to R. A. Lafferty
<!--* [http://ralafferty.tumblr.com/ Continued on Next Rock – a chronological discussion of R. A. Lafferty's work sorted by the date written] by [[Andrew Ferguson]] on [[Tumblr]]
* [http://yetanotherlafferty.blogspot.com/ Yet Another Lafferty Blog]
* [http://failingevenbetter.blogspot.com/ "I WANT A DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE THING, "], A Lafferty Blog
*[http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-introduction-to-r-lafferty.html The Ants of God Are Queer Fish – R. A. Lafferty Blog]-->

;Physical collections
* [https://utulsa.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/197 R. A. Lafferty papers, 1959–1997, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa]
* [https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/589 University of Iowa's page on their special collection of his papers]

;Profiles
* [https://greatsfandf.com/Authors/Individual/LAFFERTY/CholfinOnLafferty.html "And They Took the Sky Off at Night"] – an appreciation of Lafferty by editor Brian Cholfin
* [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1413276&lastnode_id=49412 Article] on Lafferty at [[Everything2]]
* [http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/RALafferty.php "A Few Words About R. A. Lafferty"]
*[http://www.michaelswanwick.com/nonfic/duck.html  "Despair and the Duck Lady"], Profile of Lafferty by [[Michael Swanwick]]
*[http://www.blackgate.com/2011/03/27/ra-lafferty-an-attempt-at-an-appreciation/ "R.A. Lafferty: An Attempt at an Appreciation"]

;Other links
* {{isfdb name|name=R. A. Lafferty}}
* [http://www.ralafferty.org RALafferty.org], index to reviews and tributes
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051029092127/http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/RAL/obit.html Collection of obituaries]
* [http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/lafferty.htm "R. A. Lafferty: Winner of the 2002 Cordwainer Smith Foundation "Rediscovery" Award]

{{R. A. Lafferty}}
{{Hugo Award Best Short Story 1961–1980}}
{{World Fantasy Award Life Achievement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafferty, R.A.}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Hugo Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:People from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Novelists from Iowa]]
[[Category:Novelists from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Catholics from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Christian novelists]]
[[Category:Cascia Hall Preparatory School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers of mythic fiction]]