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Ecstatic
09-08-2013, 03:00 AM
One of the true giants of SF, author of 65 novels including the classic The Space Merchants (with Cyril Kornbluth), Man Plus, and Gateway, passed away Monday at the age of 93. Among his many achievements was his editorship of the keystone SF magazines IF and Galaxy in the 1960s (during which tenure he introduced Larry Niven to the SF community), and, as literary agent, selling Isaac Asimov's first novel, Pebble in the Sky to Doubleday. And as editor for Bantam Books in the 1970s, he urged the publisher to publish two of the era's more influential SF novels, The Female Man by Joanna Russ and Dahlgren by Samuel R. Delany. Half of his novels were collaborations, the last of which, published in 2008, was The Last Theorem, co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke.

I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Fred in the late 1970s at a convention at UMass/Amherst. He will be missed.
EZWind
09-08-2013, 07:13 AM
One of the true giants of SF, ..... He will be missed.

He will indeed. One of my all time favorite authors....Loved the Gateway series. He, along w/ Heinlein and Phil Dick, was instrumental in instilling my love of Science Fiction. We knew the exact dates those mags were due to hit the bookshelves and were there to snap them up immediately and couldn't wait for the next one.
BeardedOne
09-08-2013, 10:32 PM
Yah, just saw this through my friends on FB. I also just heard of Ann Crispin's passing. This has been a crappy year for authors.
MDinMD
09-08-2013, 11:15 PM
A good one, for sure. He'll be missed.
Ecstatic
09-08-2013, 11:58 PM
Yah, just saw this through my friends on FB. I also just heard of Ann Crispin's passing. This has been a crappy year for authors.

That it has been. I just heard of Ann Crispin now thanks to your post. RIP
EZWind
09-09-2013, 06:02 PM
Yah, just saw this through my friends on FB. I also just heard of Ann Crispin's passing. This has been a crappy year for authors.

....sadly so...Jack Vance too, earlier this spring
...was wondering why all my childhood heroes were shuffling off the mortal coil
....might have something to do w/ the fact they're all in their 80s and 90s
...scary....I'm older than Ann Crispin
MacShreach
09-09-2013, 06:18 PM
Not to mention Iain M Banks, the most creative sci-fi author to appear in the last 25 years
Ecstatic
09-09-2013, 07:05 PM
Not to mention Iain M Banks, the most creative sci-fi author to appear in the last 25 years

Yes, that was sad. I'm just now reading his The Algebraist, a brilliant novel.
BeardedOne
09-10-2013, 03:06 AM
Ann had a rough battle with cancer and had only just posted a 'Goodbye' note just days before her passing.

Lost my good friend Nick Polotta in April of this year ( Nick Pollotta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Pollotta) ) and that struck me rather hard. Jan Finder in February ( Jan Howard Finder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Howard_Finder) ). And learning of Terry Pratchett's illness and end-of-life decision. :(

Seriously, I'm fucking done with this year.