Rajnar Vajra (1947-2023)

SF writer Rajnar Vajra, 75, died May 16, 2023 in Amherst MA.

David Rajnar Vajra-Loeb was born September 16, 1947 in New York City, where he lived until his family moved to San Diego CA when he was six. He attended Berkeley College in the 1960s, where he formed a band. He later relocated to Massachusetts, where he remained heavily involved in the music scene as a performer, sound designer, recording engineer, and music teacher, including as a guitar instructor at the University of Massachusetts.

He began publishing SF in 1997, and was frequently published in Analog, winning their Readers Poll twice, with “Jake, Me, and the Zipper” (2001) and “Layna’s Mirror” (2004); 15 of his stories were finalists. He was also a Hugo Award nominee for “The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale” (2014). Some of his short stories were collected in Doctor Alien (2022). His novels include Shootout at the Nokai Corral (serialized in Analog in 2003) and Opening Wonders (2023).

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, D.L. Ainsworth, four stepchildren, and four grandchildren.