Richard Bowes (1944-2023)

SF writer Richard Bowes, 79, died December 24, 2023.

Richard Dirrane Bowes was born January 8, 1944 in Boston MA, but moved to New York City in 1965 after graduating from Hofstra University. He was a mainstay of the SF scene there, and most of his work was set in alternate versions of the city. In discussing his life as a New Yorker, he wrote, “I was present at the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and watched the World Trade Center towers fall from the end of my block on 9/11.” In addition to producing fiction, he wrote fashion copy in the Garment District, designed board games, sold antique toys, and worked at New York University Libraries.

His debut novel Warchild appeared in 1986, followed by sequel Goblin Market (1988). Novel Feral Cell (1987) is a standalone fantasy. Bowes was best known for his short fiction, though, with seven Nebula Award nominations for his stories, plus one World Fantasy Award nomination
and two wins, for “If Angels Fight” (2008) and “Streetcar Dreams” (1997). “There’s a Hole in the City” (2005) won the International Horror Guild Award.

His Lambda Award winner Minions of the Moon (1999) presents his Kevin Grierson stories (including “Streetcar Dreams”) in novel form, while Nebula Award finalist From the Files of the Time Rangers (2005) is a satirical story suite mingling alternate-history and time-travel tropes. World Fantasy Award nominee Dust Devil on a Quiet Street (2013) is a metafictional fixup about his life in Boston and New York. His other collections include Transfigured Night and Other Stories (2001), Streetcar Dreams and Other Midnight Fancies (2006), The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others (2013), and If Angels Fight: Stories (2013).

For more, see his entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.