Obituaries

Writer and artist Diana G. Gallagher, 75, died December 2, 2021 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Gallagher wrote space opera The Alien Dark (1990), but was best known for her tie-in work for properties including Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Star Trek. She was active in fandom as an artist, winning a Best Fan Artist Hugo in 1989 (as Diana Gallagher Wu). She was ...Read More

Editor and publisher Jeremy G. Byrne, 57, died November 25, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia after a long illness.

Byrne co-founded Eidolon Publications in 1990 and co-edited all 30 issues of Eidolon: The Journal of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy until its closure in 2000. He was an integral part of publishing Terry Dowling’s The Mars You Have in Me, Storm Constantine’s The Thorn Boy, Robin Pen’s The Secret ...Read More

NPR books editor Petra Mayer, 46, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism November 3, 2021 at Holy Cross Hospital in Maryland.

Mayer was the books editor for National Public Radio’s cultural desk, where she was a tireless advocate for science fiction and fantasy literature and comics, and often hired SF authors to write reviews. She also covered genre events for the radio, including Comic-Con.

Mayer was born in 1974 and ...Read More

SF writer Robert Thurston, 84, died October 20, 2021 in Ridgefield Park NJ.

Thurston attended the first Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop in 1968, and his debut SF story, “Stop Me Before I Tell More”, appeared in Orbit 9 (1971). His final story was “Nobody Like Josh” in Asimov’s (2016). First novel Alicia II appeared in 1978. Other SF novels include Set of Wheels (1983, expanded from 1971 story “Wheels”), ...Read More

Writer Catherine M. Morrison, 52, died September 25, 2021 in London after a brief illness.

Morrison was a member of the Clarion class of 2003, and also attended the Blue Heaven workshop. She published several stories, including Darrell Award winner “Elvis in the Attic” in Sci Fiction (2004), with others appearing in Fantasy and small press publications.

Born January 13, 1969 in Stoughton MA, Morrison was known as Cathy and ...Read More

SF writer, fan, and award administrator Jim Fiscus, 76, died suddenly on November 7, 2021 at home in Oregon.

Fiscus began publishing short SF in 1986, with a handful of additional stories appearing in the 2000s. He was best known in the field as administrator of the Endeavour Awards honoring Pacific Northwest authors and for his decades of work as a SFWA volunteer. He hosted SFWA events at Westercons in ...Read More

Gary Paulsen, 82, died October 13, 2021 at home in Tularosa NM of cardiac arrest. Paulsen was best known for his YA novels about wilderness survival, notably Hatchet (1986).

In all, he wrote more than 200 titles, with numerous SF works (adult and YA) among them, beginning with The Implosion Effect (1976) and including The Green Recruit (1978), The Night the White Deer Died (1978), Meteorite Track 291 (1979), Compkill ...Read More

Canadian author, editor, and scholar Douglas Barbour, 81, died September 25, 2021 of lung cancer.

Douglas Fleming Barbour was born March 21, 1940 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He co-edited Tesseracts 2 (1987) with Phyllis Gottlieb, and wrote many essays, reviews, and letters for fanzines and SF journals. Barbour’s dissertation was “Patterns of Meaning in the SF Novels of Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ and Samuel R. Delany, 1962-1972″, ...Read More

SF writer Lou Antonelli, 64, died October 6, 2021 at home in Clarksville TX.

Antonelli began publishing short fiction in the early 2000s. Notable short works include Asimov’s Reader’s Award finalist “A Rocket for the Republic” (2005), Sidewise Award nominee “Great White Ship”, and Hugo Award finalist “On a Spiritual Plane” (2014). In all he published over 100 stories, some collected in Fantastic Texas (2009), Texas & Other Planets (2010), ...Read More

Fan and convention organizer Mary Kay Kare, 69, died in early October 2021 of a blood infection.

Mary Kay Jackson was born July 1, 1952, and grew up in Oklahoma, where her interest in fandom began. In the late 1970s, she was a member of the Norman Oklahoma SF Society, and edited their fanzine, Red Dust. She later lived in Ohio, Seattle, and San Jose. Kare was a conrunner, co-chair ...Read More

Longtime fan Genevieve DiModica, 73, known to friends as Gene or Genie, died of natural causes over the weekend of August 28, 2021 at her summer home in Beach Haven NJ. Genie was born in Middletown CT on January 7, 1948. She attended Carnegie Mellon University (then Carnegie Tech) in Pittsburgh PA, where she first became a part of the science fiction community.

There, in the late ’60s, she (together ...Read More

Author Carol Carr, 82, died September 1, 2021 of lung cancer. Carr was the author of several short stories, widow of author and editor Terry Carr, and wife of author Robert Lichtman, who survives her.

Carr began publishing short fiction with “Look, You Think You’ve Got Troubles” in Orbit 5 (1969), and her work also appeared in F&SF and Omni. She collaborated with Terry Carr on “Some Are Born Cats” ...Read More

Author L. Neil Smith, 75, died on August 27, 2021 in Fort Collins, CO.

Lester Neil Smith III was born May 12, 1946 in Denver, CO. He was a former state candidate for the US Libertarian Party, ex-police reserve officer, and a gunsmith. Smith created the Prometheus Awards in 1979 to honor libertarian science fiction.

Smith began publishing science fiction with “Grimm’s Law” for Stellar 5 (1980). He wrote 31 ...Read More

Publisher, editor, bookseller, and fan Erle Korshak, 97, died August 26, 2021. Korshak was best known as an early Worldcon organizer and founder of Shasta Publishers, one of the earliest hardcover science fiction small presses.

Erle Melvin Korshak was born in October 1923, and became a science fiction fan when he discovered an issue of Astounding in 1934; by the late ’30s he was an active collector and involved in ...Read More

Librarian, editor, and fan Lorna Toolis, 68, died August 11, 2021 in Toronto, Canada. Toolis was the long-time head of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation, and Fantasy at the Toronto Public Library and a significant influence on the Canadian SF community.

Toolis was born October 6, 1952 in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up in nearby Transcona, where she discovered SF — specifically Andre Norton’s The Stars Are Ours! ...Read More

Author C. Dean Andersson, 75, died in his sleep July 5, 2021 in Dallas TX after a long illness.

Cloyce Dean Andersson was born March 20, 1946 in in Little River KS, and earned degrees from Northern Arizona University and the University of North Texas. He worked in robotics, as a programmer, and as a technical writer, and was a veteran of the US Air Force.

Andersson began publishing with ...Read More

Author and editor J.W. Rinzler, 58, died July 28, 2021 in Albion CA of pancreatic cancer. Rinzler was best known for numerous non-fiction books about the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

Jonathan W. Rinzler was born August 17, 1962 and grew up in Berkeley CA. He attended the Parsons School of Design, and graduated from NYU, where he also earned a master’s in comparative literature. In 2001 he began ...Read More

Author, editor, scholar, and frequent Locus contributor Elizabeth Anne Hull, 84, died in the early hours of August 3, 2021.

Elizabeth Ann Hull was born January 10, 1937 in Upper Darby PA. She attended Illinois State University, Northwestern University, and Loyola University, where she earned her MA in 1970 and PhD in 1975. She taught English for over 30 years at William Rainey Harper College in Illinois before retiring and ...Read More

SF writer and music critic Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, 75, died July 23, 2021.

Patricia Kennely was born March 4, 1946 in Brooklyn NY and grew up in Long Island NY. She attended St. Bonaventure University, where she studied journalism, and Binghamton University, graduating with an English Literature BA. After college she worked at Macmillan as a lexicographer and editorial assistant. She was one of the first women rock and roll critics, ...Read More

Author and editor Joe McKinney, 52, died in his sleep July 13, 2021 in San Antonio TX. McKinney wrote horror, crime, and SF.

Joe Clayton McKinney was born September 22, 1968 in Cambridge MA, and was a longtime member of the San Antonio Police Department, where he served as a homicide detective, patrol supervisor, and disaster mitigation specialist.

He was best known for the Dead World series: debut novel Dead ...Read More

Artist and author Stephen Hickman, 72, died of natural causes July 16, 2021 at home in Red Hook NY.

Stephen Forrest Hickman was born April 9, 1949 Washington DC. His father was in the foreign service, and as a child he spent time in the Philippines and Pakistan. Stateside they lived in Texas and Arizona before settling in Alexandria VA.

He studied art at the Richmond Professional Institute of Virginia ...Read More

Author William F. Nolan, 93, died July 15, 2021 in the hospital of complications from an infection. Nolan was best known for the Logan’s Run series of science fiction novels, the first of which was adapted into a film and TV series.

William Francis Nolan was born March 6, 1928 in Kansas City, MO, and moved with his family to California when he was 19. He trained as a visual ...Read More

SF writer and editor Don Sakers, 62, died May 17, 2021 of a heart attack in Maryland. He published many novels and stories beginning in the ’80s, and was a review columnist for Analog starting in 2009. He was also a frequent convention guest.

Sakers was born June 16, 1958 in Yokosuka Japan, though he grew up in the US. He worked as a librarian at the Anne Arundel County ...Read More

Writer and editor Marvin Kaye, 83, died May 13, 2021 in hospice care in New York. Kaye was best known as a prolific editor and anthologist, and was also an accomplished fiction writer and playwright.

Marvin Nathan Kaye was born March 10, 1938 in Philadelphia PA. He attended Penn State, graduating with a BA in 1960 and a master’s in English literature and theater in 1962. He worked as a ...Read More

Writer Jan Stirling, 71, died May 8, 2021. She was best known for her Terion & Feric stories.

Janet Cathryn Moore was born April 6, 1950 in Milford MA. Her debut story “Were-Wench” appeared in 1995 in Chicks in Chainmail. She published five other stories on her own, plus another half-dozen in collaboration with her husband, SF writer S.M. Stirling (married 1988). Stirling, who lived in New Mexico, was ...Read More

Indian Bengali writer Anish Deb, 69, died April 28, 2021 in Kolkata, India of COVID-19. Born October 22, 1951 in Kolkata, Deb was a major Bengali SF writer. He began publishing in 1968, producing more than 50 books; recent genre work includes story collection Kishore Kalpabigyan Samagra (2005). He also wrote mysteries, thrillers, and popular science. As an editor, Deb produced numerous anthologies of crime, ghost, and horror fiction. His ...Read More

SF writer Margaret Wander Bonanno, 71, died unexpectedly of natural causes on April 8, 2021. She lived near Los Angeles. Bonanno wrote original SF as well as a number of Star Trek tie-ins, along with work in other genres.

Bonanno was born February 7, 1950 in New York City. Her original SF includes The Others series with The Others (1990), Otherwhere (1991), and OtherWise (1993) and the Preternatural series with ...Read More

Author, editor, and publisher John C. Pelan, 63, died April 12, 2021 in Albuquerque NM of an apparent heart attack. He lived in Gallup NM. Pelan was a significant figure in the dark fantasy and horror field, best known for founding numerous small presses and editing anthologies.

Pelan was born July 19, 1957 in Seattle WA. In 1986 he founded Axolotl Press, publishing work by James P. Blaylock, Charles de ...Read More