Rick DeMarinis
{{Short description|American writer (1934–2019)}}
{{infobox writer
|name=Rick DeMarinis
|birth_date={{birth date|1934|5|3}}
|birth_place=New York City, U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|2019|6|12|1934|5|3}}
|occupation=Novelist, short story writer
|alma_mater=University of Montana
|awards=Drue Heinz Literature Prize (1986)
|spouse=Mary Lee
Carol
|children=3
}}
Rick DeMarinis (May 3, 1934 – June 12, 2019) was an American novelist and short story writer.{{cite web|url=http://brautigan.cybernetic-meadows.net/tiki-index.php?page=Rick%20DeMarinis|title=Rick DeMarinis|work=cybernetic-meadows.net}}{{cite web|url=https://missoulian.com/news/local/obituaries/rick-demarinis/article_bda9fc6d-c7be-5602-ab5d-c4eb6d322d4e.html|title=Rick DeMarinis|work=Missoulian}}
Life
DeMarinis was born in New York City to "Big Al" DeMarinis, an Italian gangster, and Ruth Siik, a Finnish dancer. After their divorce, he was sent briefly to a Catholic boarding school before his mother took him to live with her relatives in Michigan. He led an itinerant childhood with his mother, living in Michigan, Texas, New York, and California twice while his mother pursued work opportunities. After high school he joined the Air Force in hopes of seeing the world, but was instead stationed in Havre, Montana.
In Havre he met his first wife, Mary Lee, with whom he had two children. After his time in the Air Force, he went to work in the aviation industry at both Lockheed and Boeing, experiences which influenced his novel Scimitar. He then returned to school, attending the University of Montana to study literature. There he met his second wife, Carol, in a poetry class, whom he would later have another child with.
He taught at the University of Montana, San Diego State University, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso.{{cite web|url=http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v1n2/fiction/demarinis_r/index.htm|title=Rick DeMarinis, Blackbird|work=vcu.edu}} While at Montana he lived across the street from Richard Hugo, who he considered his mentor, and down the block from James Welch, a frequent writing partner. It was during this time he published his first novel, A Lovely Monster.
His short stories have appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Harpers,{{cite web|url=http://www.harpers.org/subjects/RickDeMarinis|title=Rick DeMarinis|work=harpers.org}} GQ, The Paris Review, and The Iowa Review.
DeMarinis died on June 12, 2019, due to complications from Lewy body dementia.
Awards
- Two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships
- 1986 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction
- 1990 Literature Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
- 1999 Jesse H. Jones Award for fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters
- 2000 Independent Publishers Award for the best book of short fiction
Works
=Novels=
- {{cite book| title=A Lovely Monster: The Adventures of Claude Rains and Dr. Tellenbeck: a novel| publisher=Simon and Schuster| year=1975| isbn=978-0-671-22175-1| url=https://archive.org/details/lovelymonsterad00dema}}
- {{cite book| title=Scimitar| publisher=Avon Books| year=1977| isbn=0-380-01873-X| url=https://archive.org/details/scimitar0000dema}}
- {{cite book| title=Cinder| publisher=Farrar Straus & Giroux| year=1978| isbn=0-374-12364-0}}
- {{cite book| title=The Burning Women of Far Cry| publisher=Arbor House| year=1986| isbn=0-87795-815-7| url=https://archive.org/details/burningwomenoffa00dema}}
- {{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGKD_ABwCWoC&q=Rick+DeMarinis| title=The Year of the Zinc Penny| publisher=Seven Stories Press| year=2004| isbn=978-1-58322-638-4 }} (1st edition 1989)
- {{cite book|title=The Mortician's Apprentice|publisher=W.W. Norton and Company|year=1994|isbn=0-393-03662-6|url=https://archive.org/details/morticiansappren00dema}}
- {{cite book| title=A Clod of Wayward Marl| publisher=Dennis McMillan Publications| year=2001| isbn=978-0-939767-37-3| url=https://archive.org/details/clodofwaywardmar00rick}}
- {{cite book| title=A Sky Full of Sand| publisher=Dennis McMillan Publications| year=2003| isbn=978-0-939767-47-2 }}
- {{cite book| title=Mama's Boy| publisher=Seven Stories Press| year=2010| isbn=978-1-58322-911-8| url=https://archive.org/details/mamasboynovel0000dema}}
- {{cite book| title=El Paso Twilight|publisher=Bangtail Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0962378973}}
=Short fiction=
- {{cite book| title=Jack & Jill: Two Novellas and a Story| publisher=E.P. Dutton| year=1979| isbn=0-525-13575-8| url=https://archive.org/details/jackjilltwonovel00dema}}
- {{cite book| title=Under the wheat| publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press| year=1986| isbn=978-0-8229-3544-5| url=https://archive.org/details/underwheat00dema}}
- {{cite book| title=The Voice of America| publisher=W.W. Norton & Company| year=1991| isbn=0-393-02967-0| url=https://archive.org/details/voiceofamericast00dema}}
- {{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/comingtriumphoff00dema| url-access=registration| quote=Rick DeMarinis.| title=The coming triumph of the free world: stories| publisher=W. W. Norton & Company| year=1991| isbn=978-0-393-30746-7 }}
- {{cite book| title=Borrowed Hearts: New and Selected Stories | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAoZCU06Y5gC&q=Rick+DeMarinis| publisher=Seven Stories Press| year=2000| isbn=978-1-58322-040-5 }}
- {{cite web|title=Desperado|publisher=blackbird.vcu.edu|url=http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v1n2/fiction/demarinis_r/desperado.htm| date=Fall 2002}}
- {{cite book|title=Apocalypse Then: Stories|publisher=Seven Stories Press|year=2004|isbn=978-1583226377|url=https://archive.org/details/apocalypsethenst00dema}}
=Non-Fiction=
- {{cite book| title=The Art and Craft of the Short Story| publisher=iUniverse.com| year=2008| isbn=978-0-595-52229-3 }}
=Anthologies=
- {{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/newstoriesfromrave00rave| url-access=registration| page=[https://archive.org/details/newstoriesfromrave00rave/page/90 90]| quote=Rick DeMarinis.| chapter=Borrowed Hearts| title=New stories from the South: the year's best, 1999|editor=Shannon Ravenel |editor2=Tony Earley| publisher=Algonquin Books| year=1999| isbn=978-1-56512-247-5 }}
- {{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYphb0_C5kMC&q=Rick+DeMarinis&pg=PA214| chapter=weeds| title=In our nature: stories of wildness| editor=Donna Seaman| publisher=University of Georgia Press| year=2002| isbn=978-0-8203-2457-9 }}