Joel Lane (1963–2013) was a British author of horror, dark fantasy and literary fiction. He is best known for his short stories and novels that explore urban decay, personal trauma, and the uncanny. His collection The Lost District and Other Stories (2006) remains a notable work of weird fiction.
Joel Lane was born in Exeter. He is the nephew of tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott. Lane lived in south Birmingham and worked in health publishing.
Lane's writing was influenced by writers such as Robert Aickman, Ramsey Campbell and M. John Harrison. He published numerous short stories in small press magazines and anthologies, including The Year's Best Horror Stories and Best New Horror. His novels, From Blue to Black (2000) and The Blue Mask (2003), lean towards literary fiction.
His collection, The Lost District and Other Stories (2006), was critically acclaimed. The stories explore encounters with the unknown, touching on themes of sexuality, madness and existential despair. M. John Harrison described Lane's imagination as "dark, but also a poet's imagination". The collection has been reissued with a new introduction by Conrad Williams, reaffirming Lane's influence on the genre.
Lane has won several literary awards, including the 1994 British Fantasy Award for The Earth Wire and Other Stories and the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Where Furnaces Burn. He also won the Eric Gregory Award for Poetry and the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story in 2008.
Outside of literature, Lane has been politically active. A committed socialist, he joined the Socialist Party in 2009 and contributed to its publications. He was known for his advocacy of equality and opposition to fascism.
Lane died on 26 November 2013.
