anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. Zelazny died in 1995, aged 58, of kidney failure secondary to colorectal cancer. Personal life Zelazny was married twice, first to Sharon Steberl in 1964 (divorced, no children), and then to Judith Alene Callahan in 1966. Prior to this he was engaged to folk singer Hedy West for six months from 1961 to 1962. Roger and Judith had two sons, Devin and Trent (an author of crime fiction) and a daughter, Shannon. At the time of his death, Roger and Judith were separated and he was living with author Jane Lindskold. Raised as a Catholic by his parents, Zelazny later declared himself a lapsed Catholic and remained that way for the rest of his life. "I did have a strong Catholic background, but I am not a Catholic. Somewhere in the past, I believe I answered in the affirmative once for strange and complicated reasons. But I am not a member of any organized religion." Zelazny died in Santa Fe on June 16, 1995, of kidney failure associated with cancer. At the time of his death, he had been a twenty-year resident of Santa Fe. Themes In his stories, Zelazny frequently portrayed characters from myth, depicted in the modern or a future world. Zelazny included many anachronisms, such as cigarette-smoking and references to modern drama, in his work. His crisp, minimalistic dialogue also seems to be somewhat influenced by the style of wisecracking hardboiled crime authors, such as Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. The tension between the ancient and the modern, surreal and familiar was what drove most of his work. A very frequent motif in Zelazny's work is immortality or people who (have) become gods (as well as gods who have turned into people). The mythological traditions his fiction borrowed from include: Chinese mythology, in Lord Demon (with Jane Lindskold) Egyptian mythology, in Creatures of Light and Darkness Greek mythology, in ...And Call Me Conrad Hindu mythology, in Lord of Light Navajo mythology, in Eye of Cat Norse mythology, in The Mask of Loki Psychoanalysis, Arthurian mythos, Norse mythology and Kabbalah, in The Dream Master Additionally, elements from Norse, Japanese and Irish mythology, Arthurian legend, and real history appear in The Chronicles of Amber. A Night in the Lonesome October involves the Cthulhu Mythos in a similar vein. Aside from working with mythological themes, the most common recurring motif of Zelazny's is