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Fred Thomas Saberhagen (born 18 May 1930) is an American science fiction and fantasy fiction author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction stories. He has also written a series of vampire novels in which the vampires (including the famous Dracula) are the protagonists, and a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular Empire of the East and continuing through a long series of Swords and Lost Swords novels.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In August of 2005, Saberhagen announced that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.

Published works

Dracula sequence

Saberhagen's Dracula novels are based on the premise that vampires are morally equal to normal humans: they have the power to do good or evil, it is their choice. The first in the series "The Dracula Tape" is the story of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" told from Dracula's point of view. As the continuation of the series makes obvious, in this version, Dracula survives the best efforts of Harker, Van Helsing and company, who are portrayed largely as bungling fools. In later novels Dracula interacts with other literary characters including Sherlock Holmes and Merlin.

• The Dracula Tape (1975)
• The Holmes-Dracula File (1978)
• An Old Friend of the Family (1979)
• Thorn (1980)
• Dominion (1982)
• A Matter of Taste (1990)
• A Question of Time (1992)
• Seance for a Vampire (1994)
• A Sharpness on the Neck (1996)
• A Coldness in the Blood (2002)

Earth End sequence

Empire of the East

1. The Broken Lands (1968)
2. The Black Mountains (1971)
3. Changeling Earth (1973) also as Ardneh's World
4. Ardneh's Sword (May 2006)

Volumes 1-3 were also published in omnibus form as Empire of the East in 1979, 1990, and 2005.

Books of the Swords

1. The First Book of Swords (1983)
2. The Second Book of Swords (1983)
3. The Third Book of Swords (1984)

Books of Lost Swords

1. Woundhealer's Story (1986)
2. Sightblinder's Story (1987)
3. Stonecutter's Story (1988)
4. Farslayer's Story (1989)
5. Coinspinner's Story (1989)
6. Mindsword's Story (1990)
7. Wayfinder's Story (1992)
8. Shieldbreaker's Story (1994)

Short Story Anthology

1. An Armory of Swords (1995) Edited by Saberhagen.

Berserker sequence

The Berserker stories tell about an ongoing war between humanity and the Berserkers. Saberhagen's Berserkers are Von Neumann probes programmed with one main objective: Destroy all life. The series spans a large range of both time and space, and so has less plot continuity than Saberhagen's other series.

1. Berserker (1967)
2. Brother Assassin (1969)
3. Berserker's Planet (1975)
4. Berserker Man (1979)
5. The Ultimate Enemy (1979)
6. Berserker Wars (1981)
7. Berserker Base (1985)
8. The Berserker Throne (1985)
9. Berserker: Blue Death (1985)
10. The Berserker Attack (1987)
11. Berserker Lies (1991)
12. Berserker Kill (1993)
13. Berserker Fury (1997)
14. Shiva in Steel (1998)
15. Berserker's Star (2003)
16. Berserker Prime (2003)
17. Berserker Death (2005)
18. Rogue Berserker (2005)

Book of the Gods

1. The Face of Apollo (1998)
2. Ariadne's Web (1999)
3. The Arms of Hercules (2000)
4. God of the Golden Fleece (2001)
5. Gods of Fire and Thunder (2002)

Non-series Novels

• The Golden People (1964)
• The Water of Thought (1965)
• The Veils of Azlaroc (1978)
• Love Conquers All (1979)
• The Mask of the Sun (1981)
• Coils (with Roger Zelazny) (1981)
• Specimens (1981)
• Earth Descended (1981)
• Octagon (1981)
• A Century of Progress (1983)
• The Frankenstein Papers (1986)
• Pyramids (1987)
• After the Fact (1988)
• The White Bull (1988)
• The Black Throne (with Roger Zelazny) (1990)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (with James V. Hart) (1992)
• Dancing Bears (1995)
• Merlin's Bones (1995)
• Pilgrim (1997)

External links

• Official site
• Bibliography on SciFan
• Fred Saberhagen at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

• American fantasy writers
• American science fiction writers
• 1930 births
• Living people
• Dracula in written fiction