The personal/professional website of…
delazar-writings
Richard R. Delazar
MD PhD JD MDiv
AKA
“D.R. Delazar”
The Selected Works of D.R. Delazar
On Progress: The Systematic Destruction of the Unfamiliar (1962)
A polemic destruction of optimism and societal improvement, “On Progress” is Delazar’s reminder to society that not only is progress impossible, its pursuit is both futile and destructive.
“Progress, as it is commonly understood, is merely the systematic destruction of the unfamiliar. To believe in progress is to worship the illusion of control over a world destined to devour itself.”
I Will No Longer Be (1967)
The first philosophical novel by D.R. Delazar, “I Will No Longer Be” uses a multi-layered frame narrative centered around a black market clinic that offers medically induced comas to patients in exchange for payment based on the energy harvested from their bodies while asleep. The nearly ten thousand page work establishes both the pessimistic ideology and whimsical style central to Delazar’s subsequent publications.
“The promise of peace was civilization’s greatest deception, for no machine profits from rest. What we offered was not a transaction but compliance, wrapped in the sterile aesthetics of care.”
The Affair (1971)
Originally published in Galactic Today from 1968 to 1970, “The Affair” is a collection of sci-fi vignettes focusing on themes of paranoia, surveillance, and free will. The series describes a multi-generational affair between members of aristocratic families whose actions are secretly influenced by powers beyond their comprehension. Delazar concludes that paranoia is only the dreadful realization that our actions are not our own.
“The paranoid man is not delusional; he is burdened with a vigilance the rest of us lack. He does not imagine threats; he identifies them before the rest of us dare to look.”
I Praised the Dead (1975)
This unsettling psychological horror further examines insanity not as pathology, but as clarity—an affliction only in the sense that truth itself is unbearable. The nearly one-thousand page narrative follows the imprisonment and trial of seven people accused of deviant behavior in a futuristic authoritarian society. This work is notable for its suffocating atmosphere and intricate description of torture.
“Paranoia is not an illness. It is the justified fear of others in a world of perpetual judgment, with harsh punishments for those deemed irregular. The only affliction affecting this man is the inability to believe in the lie of human goodness. For every paranoid man sees the truth too clearly, recognizing that even the air we breathe conspires against us.”
My Final Patient (1976)
This classic thriller novella about a disillusioned psychiatrist may seem autobiographical, but Delazar has insisted “Patient N” is not a reference to any real-life patient but simply, “a mirror revealing my deepest held beliefs.”
“When experiences test the limits of reality, reality bends to meet them. Delusions, then, are not a distortion of the truth underneath, but the expansion of truth itself.”
This website is managed by the friends and family of D.R. Delazar. Est. 2025