In mid-December, John M. Daniel passed away at his home in McKinleyville, California, after a prolonged struggle with Parkinson’s disease. The world lost a warmhearted, brilliant, witty, and generous man who, as a writer, chronicled life in Santa Barbara and who, as a publisher, editor, and writing teacher, had a profound impact on Santa Barbara’s literary community.
John wrote several critically acclaimed novels, including The Poets’ Funeral (Poisoned Pen Press, 2005) and Vanity Fire (Poisoned Pen Press, 2006), both of which were set in a fictionalized version of Santa Barbara’s literary and publishing communities. His book Hooperman: a Bookstore Mystery (Dark Oak Mysteries, 2013) was inspired by John’s experience as a bookstore clerk in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1970s.
His short stories — many of which were set in Santa Barbara — were published in literary journals such as Tin House, ZYZZYVA, Fish Stories, and Santa Barbara Review, and in the collections Santa Barbara Stories (John Daniel and Company, 2015) and Generous Helpings (Shoreline Press, 2001). In collaboration with Steve Moss, John was the editor of The World’s Shortest Stories, a series of books that collected and published 55-word stories. His nonfiction works included books about writing and publishing, and memoirs that told the story of his remarkable life and the unconventional household and family in which he grew up.
