Obituaries

Author and illustrator Marcus Sedgwick, 54, died unexpectedly in France on November 17, 2022. He wrote more than 40 books, most for children and teens, including many of genre interest.

Born April 8, 1968 in Preston, Kent, England, Sedgwick worked as a bookseller and for a small children’s publisher before becoming a full-time writer.

He wrote several series, including the Dead Days sequence, the Cudweed trilogy, the Raven Mysteries, and ...Read More

French SF writer and professor Anne Fakhouri, 48, died November 9, 2022 following a long illness.

Fakhouri was born March 3, 1974 in Paris. She earned her master’s at the Sorbonne, where she studied tales of King Arthur, and became a professor of literature, teaching in Paris and Rennes, where she lived in her final years.

Her debut YA novel, Le Clairvoyage, appeared in 2008 from L’Atalante, followed by ...Read More

Sue Strong Hassler, 84, died November 9, 2022 of complications from back surgery and COVID. She spent her last days in a memory care unit in Hudson OH. She co-authored Arthur Machen & Montgomery Evans: Letters of a Literary Friendship, 1923-1947 (1994) with her husband, the editor and critic Donald M. Hassler.

Virginia Sue Strong was born July 16, 1938 in Hobard OK and attended West Texas A&M State University. ...Read More

Fan and writer Martin Morse Wooster, 64, died November 12, 2022 in Williamsburg VA, the victim of a hit-and-run. He was attending an ale convention and was struck while walking back to his hotel from the event. He was a regular Locus correspondent, sending us news, letters, and corrections for decades, and will be greatly missed.

Wooster was a founding member of the Potomac River Science Fiction Society (PRSFS). He ...Read More

Artist Ned Dameron, 79, died October 20, 2022 of ALS. Dameron was best known for his book covers and interiors, and for roleplaying game artwork.

A native of Louisiana, born May 7, 1943, Edward Palfrey IV was always known personally as well as professionally as “Ned.” He was born in Rio and grew up in Hammond and Baton Rouge, and while still in high school he apprenticed as a draughtsman ...Read More

Fan J.G. “HUCK” HUCKENPÖHLER, 81, died August 26, 2022 in Washington DC. Huck­enpöhler was active in fandom for more than 50 years, and was the recording secretary for the Burroughs Bibliophiles for over 30 years. He attended his first Worldcon in 1967, and often created the calligraphy certificates handed out at Worldcon Masquerades.

Huckenpöhler earned a PhD in history from George Washington University and was an expert in military ...Read More

SF writer Tom Maddox, 77, died of a stroke on October 18, 2022.

Daniel Thomas Maddox was born in October 1945 and attended the Evergreen State College, graduating in 1975. He earned his PhD at American University, and later taught literature at Evergreen.

He began publishing work of genre interest with “The Mind Like a Strange Balloon” (Omni 6/85) and produced several more stories in the ’80s and early ’90s. ...Read More

Author Albert E. Cowdrey, 88, died August 21, 2022 in New Orleans LA.

Albert Edward Cowdrey was born December 8,1933 in New Orleans. He attended Tulane University, graduating with a BA in 1956 and a PhD in 1971; he earned his MA at Johns Hopkins in 1957. Cowdrey was in the US Army, serving in Germany in the late ’50s. He was a historian for the Army Corps of Engineers ...Read More

Editor and critic Maureen Kincaid Speller, 63, died September 18, 2022 in Folkestone, Kent, England. She had cancer.

Maureen Speller was born in Oxford on March 23, 1959. She was active in UK fandom from around 1980, and was the partner of writer Paul Kincaid since 1986; they were married in 1993, and he survives her.

She founded Acnestis, a UK amateur press association, in 1992, administrating it until its ...Read More

Fan WAYNE McCALLA, 53, died June 14, 2022 in Evansville IN following a long illness. McCalla was a frequent convention attendee and collector, and a close friend of artists Donald Maitz & Janny Wurts. Wayne Leland McCalla, Jr. was born June 20, 1968, and is survived by two sisters, a brother, and nieces and nephews.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time ...Read More

Writer Bruce Taylor, 75, died August 31, 2022 in Seattle WA after a brief hospital stay. He had a heart condition and was in poor health recently. Known as “Mr. Magic Realism,” Taylor was the author of hundreds of stories and two novels, and was a beloved figure in the Pacific Northwest fandom and writing communities.

Bruce Bradley Taylor was born May 28, 1947. He attended the University of Washington, ...Read More

SF writer and critic Alexei Panshin, 82, died August 21, 2022 in Pennsylvania.

Alexis Adams Panshin was born August 14, 1940 in Lansing MI. Panshin was active in fandom early in his career, and was nominated twice for the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award, winning in 1967. His first professional sale was non-genre story “A Piece of the Pie” (1960), and he began publishing stories of genre interest with “Down ...Read More

Publisher, entrepreneur, and showman Robert “Bob” Self, 55, died August 3, 2022, as the result of an accident at Mono Lake in California.

Born August 5, 1966, Bob had a background in the entertainment industry and worked behind-the-scenes with a number of magicians, comedians, and illusionists. In 2003 he and his wife Rani — a professional costume designer for various TV series including The Orville — formed Baby Tattoo, Inc., ...Read More

SF writer Eric Flint, 75, died July 17, 2022, according to his longtime publisher Baen Books.

Flint was best known for his Assiti Shards Universe, starting with 1632 (2000), in which a modern small town and all its inhabitants are transported back in time. Flint built the series into a sprawling shared universe with books and stories by many authors, including numerous anthologies and the magazine Grantville Gazette. He later ...Read More

Writer Geoffrey H. Goodwin, 50, died of heart failure on June 15, 2022 at home in Fly Creek NY. Goodwin was a prolific freelance writer, publishing essays, interviews, fiction, and poetry. His first story of genre interest was “Stoddy Awchaw” in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (2002), and he published several other stories in anthologies and ‘zines in the decade that followed.

Geoffrey Harrison Goodwin was born December 30, 1971 in ...Read More

SF writer Dorothy J. Heydt, 80, died June 28, 2022.

Heydt was the author of novels The Interior Life (1990, as Katherine Blake) and A Point of Honor (1998), and published over 30 stories. The Witch of Syracuse (2017) collects her stories in the Cynthia, Daughter of Euelpides series, and Stories You Never Heard Of (2020) gathers several out-of-print tales.

Dorothy Jones Heydt was born June 6, 1942, and lived ...Read More

Barbara Haldeman, 69, who wrote as Barbara Delaplace, died July 7, 2022.

She was a prolific author of short fiction, starting with “Legends Never Die” in 1991 and producing at least 25 stories, among them “Modern Mansions”, a Homer Award finalist in 1994. She collaborated with Mike Resnick on “Trading Up” (1992) and with her husband Jack C. Haldeman II on “That’ll Be the Day” (1996).

Barbara Mona Delaplace Haldeman ...Read More

Artist Ken Kelly, 76, died June 3, 2022. While best known for his album art (including famous covers for rock band Kiss), Kelly was also a prolific SF/F artist who did work for numerous publishers starting in the ’70s.

Kenneth William Kelly was born May 19, 1946 in New London CO. He served in the Marines until 1968, and soon after became a professional artist. He got his start doing ...Read More

LYGIA FAGUNDES TELLES, the grand dame of Brazilian mainstream fiction and a feminist icon, died April 3, 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil. Her story “A Caçada” was in the third Brazilian science fiction anthology, Além do Tempo e do Espaço (1965), and her 1977 story ‘‘Seminário dos Ratos’’ [Rat Seminar] is a mordant allegory of a popular uprising against the violent Brazil­ian military dictatorship of that time. She was ...Read More

Brazilian author, poet, culture activist, and edi­tor CARLOS EMÍLIO C. LIMA, 65, died on April 2, 2022, in Fortaleza, Ceará (in the North­east Brazil), from an infection following surgery. Carlos Emílio Barreto Corrêa Lima was born in Fortaleza in 1956, and published first book So­lário: Contos Infantis para Adultos [Solarium: Child Stories for Adults] in 1970, when he was 13. In that decade he wrote reviews for major news­papers ...Read More

French writer JOËL HOUSSIN, 68, died March 23, 2022 in Paris after a long battle with MS.

Houssin was born in Paris on August 29, 1953. His first genre novel, Locomotive Rictus, was published by Editions OPTA in 1975. Soon after, he joined the famous ‘‘Anticipation’’ imprint of Editions Fleuve Noir, where he published no fewer than ten novels between 1981 and 1983. One, Blue, became the ...Read More

Italian SF, fantasy, and horror writer VALERIO EVANGELISTI, 69, died April 18, 2022. He was best known for his bestselling Nicolas Eymerich series and the Nostradamus trilogy. Born June 20, 1952 in Bologna, Italy, he earned a political science degree in 1976. He worked as an academic and for the Italian ministry of finance before turning to fiction writing in the 1990s. Debut novel Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore (1993) won the ...Read More

Author ROBERT C. CORNETT, 69, died April 1, 2022 at home in Albuquerque NM. Cornett was a prolific author of SF, military, and adventure fiction.

His work of genre interest includes the Time Mercenaries series with Kevin D. Randle: Remember the Alamo! (1980), Remember Gettysburg! (1988), and Remember the Little Bighorn! (1990), and the Fifty Million Years War series, also written with Randle: Seeds of War (1986), The Aldebaran ...Read More

Author Patricia A. McKillip, 74, died May 6, 2022. She was best known for her fantasy novels for children and young adults, including the Riddle-Master trilogy.

Patricia Anne McKillip was born February 29, 1948 in Salem OR. She attended the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, and San Jose State University in California, receiving a BA in 1971 and an MA in English in 1972.

Her first publications were short children’s ...Read More