Roger Elwood (January 13, 1943 – February 2, 2007) was an American science fiction author and editor, who edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers during the early to mid-1970s.
This period produced some fictional confessional stories (e.g. "I Killed a Man in the Ring") that Elwood claimed were based on "a blending of interviews".
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction observes that "At one time it was estimated that Roger Elwood alone constituted about one quarter of the total market for SF short stories."
Elwood's biography on the Fantastic Fiction website omits mention of his work concerning ordinary science fiction/fantasy and identifies him as a Writer-in-Residence (or occasionally a "professor of literature") at a Bible college in the mid-western USA.
SF hardcovers were relatively uncommon during the 1970s and the stories were supposedly original commissions, so Nielsen Hayden believes it is reasonable to assume that this was a well-funded project.
Nielsen Hayden reports that, prior to Elwood's involvement with the market, anthologies and collections were very popular with readers, and were considered by the publishing industry to be "a surer bet than novels".
[4] Publishing houses which published Roger Elwood's anthologies: Elwood's Fantastic Fiction biography claims that he has sold "a thousand articles and a few short stories" to publications including Ladies Home Companion, Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine, Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine, Photoplay, Grit and Weekly Reader.