Obituaries

Author Andrew Pyper, 56, died January 3, 2025 at home in Toronto, Canada of cancer. Pyper published 14 novels, many thrillers with speculative elements.

Andrew Derek Pyper was born January 4, 1968 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from McGill University with an English degree, and went to law school at the University of Toronto. Though he passed the Bar in 1996, he never practiced law, instead becoming a full-time ...Read More

Author George Zebrowski, 78, died December 20, 2024.

Jerzy Tadeus Zebrowski (AKA George Thaddeus Zebrowski) was born December 28, 1945 in Villach, Austria. He moved to the US in 1951, and attended an early Clarion Writers’ Workshop in 1968.

Zebrowski’s first publications were collaborations with Jack Dann in 1970 (“Traps” and “Dark, Dark, the Dead Star”), and his first solo story was “The Water Sculptor of Station 233” (1970). He ...Read More

Writer T. Jackson King, 76, died December 3, 2024 in Santa Fe NM.

Thomas Jackson King, Jr. was born May 24, 1948 in Houston TX. He was a journalist, activist, and archaeologist.

Debut novel Retread Shop appeared in 1988. His Vigilante series began with Star Vigilante (2012) and continued with Nebula Vigilante (2013), Galactic Vigilante (2013), and Anarchate Vigilante (2014). The Aliens series includes Earth vs. Aliens (2014), Humans vs. ...Read More

Author John Marsden, 74, died December 18, 2024 in Australia. He wrote more than 40 books in various genres and was best known for his Tomorrow series of young-adult SF novels.

Marsden was born September 27, 1950 in Melbourne, Australia. He moved to Sydney with his family at age ten and later attended Sydney University for a time before dropping out. He worked various jobs before becoming an English teacher, ...Read More

Author Trent Zelazny, 48, died on November 28, 2024 of acute liver failure.

The son of SF writer Roger Zelazny, he began publishing short SF in 1999, and went on to produce over 30 stories, with some collected in The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories (2009). He also edited anthology Mirages: Tales from Authors of the Macabre (2012) and co-edited Shadows & Reflections: A Roger Zelazny Tribute ...Read More

Philosopher Anand Vaidya, 48, died October 11, 2024 of cancer. Vaidya cofounded the Science Fiction and Philosophy Society in 2022, “to explore connections between science fiction and philosophy, to cross-pollinate new ideas, and to boldly go where no one has thought before!”

Anand Jayprakash Vaidya was born January 4, 1976 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up mostly in Saudi Arabia, but also spent time in India, Germany, and various parts ...Read More

Author, actor, critic, and filmmaker Tim Sullivan, 76, died November 10, 2024 in hospice care in Newport News VA.

Timothy Robert Sullivan was born June 9, 1948 in Bangor ME. He studied literature and got his degree at Florida Atlantic University, and spent time in Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Southern California.

He began publishing SF with “Tachyon Rage” in 1977 (as Timothy Robert Sullivan). “Zeke” (1981) was a Nebula Awards ...Read More

Author Bruce Boston, 81, died November 11, 2024. He was best known as a poet, but was also a prolific prose writer. He was the recipient of the first Grand Master award presented by the Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA) in 1999.

Bruce David Boston was born July 16, 1943 in Chicago IL and grew up in Southern California. He moved to the Bay Area in 1961 and attended UC ...Read More

Author Phil Rickman, 74, died October 29, 2024. Rickman was a journalist and a prolific author of crime and supernatural fiction, best known for the Merrily Watkins mystery series, adapted into a TV series in 2015.

Philip Rickman was born in Lancashire and lived in Wales. He was a reporter for Wales Today in the 1980s, and worked in radio broadcasting for over two decades, hosting literature show Phil the ...Read More

Longtime Barnes & Noble head LEONARD RIGGIO, 83, died August 27, 2024 in Manhattan. He had Alzheimer’s.

Leonard Stephen Riggio was born February 28, 1941 in New York, and attended Brooklyn Technical High School. After graduating in 1958, he took night classes at NYU for a while before dropping out. He founded a small book­shop, the Student Book Exchange, in 1965. In 1971, he purchased New York bookshop Barnes ...Read More

Writer and publishing professional Zoe Kaplan, 28, died October 9, 2024 of complications from diabetes.

Kaplan began publishing short fiction of genre interest with “Pink Marble” in 2021, and published several other stories in magazines and anthologies. She also worked in publishing, spending time at Tor before joining Simon & Schuster in 2021, first as a member of the production team, and later as a managing editorial associate, working extensively ...Read More

Canadian fan and author FRAN SKENE, 86, died June 17, 2024. Skene was active in Van­couver fandom in the ’70s and ’80s, chairing Westercon 30 in 1977, among other conven­tions, and was a major part of the ‘‘Vancouver in ’84’’ Worldcon bid. She also produced fanzines, and was a guest of honor at numerous conventions. Born December 18, 1937, Skene worked as a librarian. After her retirement, she published ...Read More

Scholar and editor H. BRUCE FRANK­LIN, 90, died May 19, 2024 in El Cerrito CA. He taught one of the first university courses on science fiction literature while he was at Stanford University, and also wrote and edited numerous works of SF interest.

Howard Bruce Franklin was born February 28, 1934 in Brooklyn NY. He worked his way through college, graduating from Amherst College in 1955. He served in ...Read More

Author M.J. Engh, 91, died at home July 11, 2024 in Garfield WA.

Mary Jane Gholson was born January 26, 1933. She attended the University of Chicago, studying history, archaeology, and library science, and worked as an editor in the US and Japan. Upon returning to the US, she worked as a freelance editor and substitute teacher. In 1971 she attended the University of Oklahoma, earning a Master of Library ...Read More

Poet Deborah P. Kolodji, 64, died July 21, 2024 at home in Temple City CA. She was well known in science fiction poetry circles, and was best known for her haiku.

Kolodji was born August 11, 1959 in Long Beach CA. She began publishing her work in the 1970s, mostly Star Trek-inspired poems in fanzines. She attended the University of Southern California, graduating with a mathematics degree, and worked ...Read More

SF artist and editor Taral Wayne, 72, died at home on July 31, 2024.

Wayne MacDonald was born October 12, 1951 in Toronto, Canada. He took the pen name Taral from an invented language, Siroihin, introduced in one of his fanzines. He joined the Ontario Science Fiction Club in 1971, contributing works of art and writing to fanzines and semiprozines, and publishing his own journals, including Delta Psi, New Toy, ...Read More

Bookseller and publisher DOUG LEWIS, 69, died May 20, 2024 of complications of diabetes. Born 1955, Lewis and his wife Tomi owned and operated the Little Bookshop of Horror/Roadkill Press in Arvada CO and won a World Fantasy Award in the non-professional category in 1993. ...Read More

Author, editor, and scholar Robert Irwin, 77, died June 28, 2024 in London. Irwin is the author of several books of genre interest, most notably his debut novel The Arabian Nightmare (1983).

Robert Graham Irwin was born August 23, 1946 in Guildford, Surrey in the UK. He attended Epsom College, studied history at the University of Oxford, and did graduate work at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Irwin ...Read More

Author John Maddox Roberts, 76, died May 23, 2024 in Estancia NM.

Roberts was born in Ohio on June 25, 1947. He began publishing with SF novel The Strayed Sheep of Charun (1977; revised as Cestus Dei, 1983). Other works include the Spacer series, with Space Angel (1979) and Spacer: Window of the Mind (1988); the Cingulum sequence, with The Cingulum (1985), Cloak of Illusion (1985), and The Sword, ...Read More

Artist, author, and musician MaryAnn Harris, 71, died June 3, 2024 after a long struggle with the Powassan virus. Harris was married to author Charles de Lint and was his frequent collaborator as manager, editor, and illustrator.

Harris was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She met de Lint in 1974, and they married in 1980. She served as de Lint’s business manager and first editor, and created the cover art ...Read More

CAITLIN THOMAS, 21, died April 17, 2024 in Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago IL. She had Aicardi Syndrome, a rare congenital disorder.

Born October 28, 2002, Caitlin was the daugh­ter of editors Lynne Marie Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas of Uncanny, and was a familiar and beloved figure at conventions and events.

Michael wrote, “Caitlin was the best of all of us – the most pure, loving, fun, and ...Read More

R.F. LUCCHETTI, 94, the dean of Brazilian pulp writers, died March 5, 2024 of respiratory failure following a stroke in Ribeirão Preto, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

Rubens Francisco Lucchetti was born January 29, 1930 in Santa Rita do Passa Quatro. He left his mark on the fields of horror cinema, comics and literature, crime fiction, pulp radio shows, cultural journalism, science fiction, and the book market ...Read More

Author Travis Heerman, 54, died April 26, 2024 in Colorado. He suffered severe head trauma in a motorcycle accident in December 2023, and finally succumbed to his injuries.

Heerman was born October 22, 1969. He was a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, with more than 30 stories published in magazines and anthologies. He was the author of the Ronin Trilogy: Heart of the Ronin (2009), Sword of the Ronin ...Read More

Fan John Trimble, 87, died April 19, 2024. He was the husband of Bjo Trimble and very active in Los Angeles fandom.

Trimble was born November 17, 1936, and married Bjo in 1960. They had three daughters, Kathryn Arwen, Lora, and Jenn. He was a member and officer of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society and many other fan organizations, and was a founder of the Trans Oceanic Fan Fund. ...Read More

Author Paul Auster, 77, died April 30, 2024 of lung cancer at home in Brooklyn NY. Auster wrote more than 30 books, inluding literary novels and non-fiction, and occasionally incorporated surreal and genre elements in his fiction.

Paul Benjamin Auster was born February 3, 1947 in Newark NJ. He attended Columbia University, graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees before moving to Paris in 1970, where he worked as a translator. ...Read More

Author Ray Garton, 61, died April 21, 2024, just weeks after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Garton was the author of nearly 70 books, most horror.

Ray Garton, Jr. was born December 2, 1962 in Redding CA, and grew up in Anderson CA with his adopted parents. He worked at Pinnacle Books in New York City in the 1980s.

Garton’s debut novel, Seductions, appeared in 1984. Other ...Read More

Artist, editor, and author Trina Robbins, 85, died April 10, 2024 of a stroke in San Francisco CA. Though best known as a legendary feminist comics writer and artist, she was also a science fiction fan and occasional SF writer, with stories including “Lines from a Diary” (1992) and “Innana: Witchwoman” (2011). She wrote and illustrated a comics adaptation of Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover in 1985, and was ...Read More