Abstract. In Roger Zelazny’s anthology entitled On writing science fiction and fantasy (2025), Warren Lapine put together a list of essays and musings on the process of writing science fiction and fantasy that Roger Zelazny published in various magazines along the course of his life. These essays were previously published also in the six volumes of The collected stories of Roger Zelazny (2009) edited by Christopher S. Kovacs, David G. Grubbs & Ann Crimmins. The difference is that, with Lapine’s edition newly published in 2025, we have a stand-alone volume of these essays, which are now easily accessible, whereas in the previous edition of Christopher S. Covacs, David G. Grubbs & Ann Crimmins (2009), they are spread along throughout the six volumes, and mixed together with other reviews of Zelazny’s work by other writers and critics, with poetry pieces, as well as with stand-alone stories and a brief analysis of the most important elements from those stories. Lapine’s recent version helps scholars and aspiring writers alike to take a peek into the mind of one of the most distinguished writers of the experimental SF short stories and novels published in the 1960s, but the period of Zelazny’s non-fictional writing spans from the 1964 until 1994, toward the end of his writing career and, sadly, of his life in 1995.

Key words: science fiction; fantasy; Zelazny; high literature; Northrop Frye; history of SF

Asaftei L (2025) Storytelling devices and gimmicks: Roger Zelazny on writing science fiction and fantasy. Creativity 8(1): 583–593. doi:10.22381/C8120254