Randall Garrett

Gordon Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy writer born in Lexington in 1927 and died in Waco in 1987. He wrote in English and contributed to major magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for the Lord Darcy series, set in an alternate world where magic is scientifically codified. His work is rich in jokes, puns, and references to detective fiction. He also collaborated with Robert Silverberg and his wife Vicki Ann Heydron on various novels. Garrett was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and a beloved figure at science fiction conventions, though his personal conduct was often controversial. He suffered from severe amnesia later in life.

Reading Randall Garrett in translation

The reader already reads English, the language Randall Garrett wrote in. On Paralelo they read Occasion ... for Disaster in the original with a translation beside them (German, Spanish, French), using the English they know as the anchor while they learn the other language. Garrett writes with a register rich in puns and references, often modeled on detective fiction. The sentence structure and vocabulary may feel familiar due to the English original, but the dense wordplay could be challenging in translation. Start with Occasion ... for Disaster, the only title in our catalogue. It takes about 267 minutes to read, making it a substantial but manageable first step for exploring his unique style of alternate history and humor.