Zelazny's best-known contribution to modern fantasy was his 'Amber' series - Nine Princes in Amber (1970), The Guns of Avalon (1972), Sign of the Unicorn (1975) and so on in a sequence which eventually reached 10 volumes. A colourful narrative, it was criticised by some for being too baroque, but nevertheless it pleased many readers. An elite, descended from the original crew, possesses high technology which enables them to take on the personae and apparent powers of the traditional Hindu gods and rebellion brews. Drawing on Indian mythology, it has the feel of fantasy, although there is a definite science-fiction rationale: the Hindu passengers of a long-lost starship have colonised another planet, producing a culture similar to medieval India's. Lord of Light, his third novel, won a 1968 Hugo award as the best of its year, and it remains his most famous title.

He began to go out of fashion with the critics just as he reached his peak of commercial success. Delany soon overtook him in terms of substance, or intellectual weight. Younger New Wave contemporaries such as Samuel R. Zelazny's triumph was very much a triumph of style, and when that style was no longer a novelty the effect was somewhat dimmed.

Roger zelazny the doors of his face