Obituary – Page 10

Roger Ebert, June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013

Friday, April 5, 2013 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Here in Chicago, the airwaves and local newspapers are thick with commentary about the life of Roger Ebert, who died of cancer yesterday at the age of 70.

Roger Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois in 1942 and began writing for the News-Gazette at age 15, covering high school sports. While at the University of Illinois, he became a reporter for The Daily Illini in Urbana, eventually becoming editor in his senior year. I lived in Urbana for four years while completing my Ph.D, from 1987-1991, and can attest to the mark he left on the city. Ebertfest, the annual film fest he started in Champaign-Urbana in 1998, continues to this day.

Roger Ebert won renown primarily as the nation’s preeminent film critic, starting at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. His columns were syndicated in more than 200 newspapers, and he published more than 20 books and dozens of collections of reviews. His TV show Sneak Previews, co-hosted with Gene Siskel, was nationally distributed beginning in 1978. He became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1975.

But Ebert left his mark on the genre as well, starting with early fanzines. A life-long science fiction fan, he wrote for some of the most famous SF fanzines of the 60s and 70s, including Pat and Dick Lupoff’s Xero. He provided the introduction to The Best of Xero, the 2005 Tachyon collection gathering many of its best articles (including some of his).

Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002, and underwent multiple surgeries. On July 1, 2006, his carotid artery burst and he narrowly escaped death. He lost the ability to speak, and to eat or drink, taking all nutrition through a feeding tube. But he continued to write. He died on April 4th at the age of 70; the last sentence on his final blog entry, two days before he died, read “So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”

Perhaps the best way to remember him is to sample his legendary wit. Several blogs have collected some of his finest critiques, including BuzzFeed’s Roger Ebert’s 20 Most Epic Movie Pans, and Inquisitr’s Our 20 Favorite Ebert Quotes. He will be missed.

R.I.P. Lynn Willis, Game Designer Extraordinaire

Thursday, March 7, 2013 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

I was researching some recent OSR (Old School Renaissance) D&D releases at The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope blog when I came across a shocking post: an obituary for legendary Chaosium game designer and editor Lynn Willis, dated January 18.

It’s tough to describe the sense of loss I feel. I never met Lynn, so I didn’t know him personally. But he was a prolific designer and editor, and his name graces many of my favorite games. Like the other great designers of the era — Gary Gygax, Steve Jackson, Greg Stafford, Greg Costikyan, Sandy Peterson, Marc Miller — the name Lynn Willis quickly came to be synonymous with a top-notch product. In a tiny industry, that was no small thing.

I was introduced to gaming in 1978 by Metagaming, which offered enticing SF and fantasy microgames like Ogre and Melee in the pages of Analog and Asimov’s SF Magazine, and it was there I first encountered his work, in games like Godsfire (1976), Olympica (1978) and Holy War (1979). He designed the sci-fi guerrilla war game Bloodtree Rebellion for GDW in 1979, but found his permanent home when Chaosium published his post-apocalyptic game of a sunken America Lords of the Middle Sea in 1978.

Lynn became employee #3 at Chaosium, and had a spectacular career. He was the co-creator of Call of Cthulhu, perhaps his single most enduring contribution, and eventually became the mastermind behind the entire CoC line. Even a partial list of the Chaosium titles he worked on will give you an understanding of his energy and ability: Dragon Pass, Raiders and Traders, Arkham Horror, Thieves’ World, Ringworld, RuneQuest, Borderlands, Pavis, Big Rubble, Questworld, Stormbringer Companion, Elric, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Masks of Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Dreamlands, Horror on the Orient Express, and Beyond the Mountains of Madness.

On September 2008, Chaosium announced that Willis had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Chaosium President Charlie Krank, and company founder Greg Stafford, announced his death on January 18, 2013.

Lynn Willis left behind a formidable legacy — a body of work that literally changed the face of hobby gaming at arguably its most creative and formative time. For me, he was one of the backbones of the industry, a man whose contributions were so numerous and vital that you almost took him for granted

Almost. Rest in peace, Lynn. Though we never met, you lived your life in a way that immeasurably enriched mine. Thank you.

Gerry Anderson, April 14, 1929 – December 26, 2012

Sunday, January 6, 2013 John ONeill Comments 7 comments

I read on Tor.com that television writer, producer, and supermarionation pioneer Gerry Anderson died last week.

His name may not mean much to modern audiences, but Gerry Anderson was beloved among science fiction fans of the 1960s-1980s — and boy, did we love him. He had a long and fruitful career, especially with science fiction-themed children’s shows such as Fireball XL5 (1962), Stingray (’64–65), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (67-68), Joe 90 (68-69), and his biggest success, Thunderbirds (1965-1966).

Most of Anderson’s TV shows were co-produced with his wife, Sylvia Anderson. They were married from 1960 to 1981. Sylvia frequently directed the overdub sessions for the supermarionation programs, and even provided the voices of many characters, including Lady Penelope of the Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds may have been his biggest success — and the defining kid’s show for an entire generation of science fiction fans — but there was nothing that could get my young heart rate up like the opening credits for Joe 90.

Gerry’s television career culminated in Space: 1999, the groundbreaking science-fiction television series that was the last Gerry and Sylvia Anderson co-production, and the most expensive series produced for British television up to that time. It ran for two seasons, from 1975 to 1977, and starred Martin Landau, the painfully wooden Barbara Bain, Barry Morse, and (in season two) Catherine Schell as Maya, the shape-changing alien hottie.

While it had an original premise and showcased enough intriguing plotlines to captivate its teenage fans, Space: 1999 is primarily remembered today for the superb results of effects artist Brian Johnson, whose detailed model work was hugely influential on Alien and other films that decade. His work was so impressive that George Lucas visited Johnson during production and offered him the role of effects supervisor for Star Wars. He later received an Academy Award for his work on The Empire Strikes Back.

Gerry Anderson continued to work well into the last decade; his New Captain Scarlet premiered in the UK in February 2005, and was said to be the most expensive children’s programme ever made in the UK. He died peacefully in his sleep on December 26, 2012 at the age of 83.

Kevin O’Donnell Jr, November 29, 1950 – November 7, 2012

Saturday, November 10, 2012 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

American science fiction writer Kevin O’Donnell Jr., who added “Jr.” to his byline to distinguish himself from his famous father Kevin O’Donnell, director of the Peace Corps, died this week.

O’Donnell graduated Yale University in 1972; his first short story “The Hand Is Quicker” appeared a year later in Analog. He published more than 70 short stories in a variety of genre publications, including Galaxy, Galileo, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Amazing/Fantastic, and Omni.

His first novel, Bander Snatch, appeared in paperback from Bantam Books in 1979. He published a total of ten over the next eleven years, including Mayflies (Berkley, 1979), War of Omission (Bantam, 1982), and ORA:CLE (Berkley, 1984).

Most of O’Donnell’s fiction was standalone, with the notable exception of his four-book series The Journeys of McGill Feighan for Berkley Books: Caverns (April 1981), Reefs (October 1981), Lava (April 1982), and Cliffs (February 1986).

His last novel was Fire on the Border from Roc Books, published in September 1990; he retired from writing fiction after his last short story, “The Boys from Bethlehem” (written with Denise Lee) appeared in the anthology The Darkness and the Fire in August, 1998.

O’Donnell was very active in the Science Fiction Writers of America, serving as chairman of the Nebula Award Novel Jury in 1990 and 1991, and chairing the Nebula Award Committee 1990-1998. He was the Business Manager of the quarterly SFWA Bulletin from 1994-1998, and in April 2005 he received the Service to SFWA Award.

Josepha Sherman, December 12, 1946 – August 23, 2012

Saturday, August 25, 2012 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Reports are pouring in that prolific fantasy writer Josepha Sherman, author of The Prince of the Sidhe novels and numerous licensed tie-in books, died on Thursday. She had been in poor health and struggled with dementia in the final years of her life.

Sherman began her career writing for The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, the animated Space Western TV series that ran between 1986 and 1989. Her first standalone fantasy novel was Golden Girl and the Crystal of Doom (1986). It was followed by more than a dozen others, including the Compton Crook Award winner The Shining Falcon (1990).

She began a lengthy and productive career writing tie-in novels for popular television and computer gaming properties in 1986 with The Invisibility Factor (Find Your Fate Junior Transformers, No 9). She produced licensed novels for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Bard’s Tale, Highlander, Mage Knight, and Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. She also published All I Need To Know I Learned From Xena: Warrior Princess (1998), Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood (with T. K. F. Weisskopf, 1995), Mythology for Storytellers (2002), and more than 30 other non-fiction titles.

Sherman was also a prolific editor with eleven anthologies under her belt, beginning with A Sampler of Jewish-American Folklore (1992) and including Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories from Around the World (1996), Urban Nightmares (with Keith R.A. DeCandido, 1997), Merlin’s Kin: World Tales of the Heroic Magician (1998), and Young Warriors: Stories Of Strength (with Tamora Pierce, 2005).

Sherman frequently wrote in collaboration, producing more than a dozen books with a variety of talented partners including Susan M Shwartz (5 Star Trek novels), Laura Anne Gilman (2 Buffy novels), Mercedes Lackey (Bard’s Tale and Bardic Choices), Keith R.A. DeCandido (one anthology), Tamora Pierce (one anthology), T K F Weisskopf (one non-fiction book), and many others.

Writers including Pat Cadigan, Keith DeCandido, Theodora Goss, Nick Pollotta, Vera Nazarian, Ellen Kushner, and David B. Coe have been leaving testimonials on her Facebook page.

Harry Harrison, March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 John ONeill Comments 11 comments

Harry Harrison, the prolific author of nearly 60 novels (including Deathworld; Bill, the Galactic Hero; The Hammer and the Cross; and eleven titles in The Stainless Steel Rat series) has died.

Harrison’s first publication was the short story, “Rock Diver,” in the February 1951 issue of Worlds Beyond. But he entered the field as an illustrator, working on some of the most fondly-remembered comics of the 50’s, including EC Comics’ science fiction titles Weird Fantasy and Weird Science. He also wrote a number of syndicated comic strips, creating Rick Random and becoming the main writer of the Flash Gordon newspaper strip in the 50s and 60s.

Harrison also made a name for himself as an important and influential editor, beginning with the September 1953 issue of Rocket Stories. He was the editor of many of the field’s leading magazines, including Amazing Stories (1967 – 1968), Science Fiction Adventures (1953 – 1954), Fantastic (1968), and SF Impulse (1966 – 1967). With Brian Aldiss, he edited Nebula Awards 2, two volumes of SF Horizons, three volumes of the Decade anthology series (1940, 1950, and 1960), and nine volumes of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (1967 – 1975).

But it was as an author that Harrison really made his mark. His first novel was Deathworld (1960), a book that was still in print and much discussed two decades later, when I was in high school. He wrote two more in what was eventually to become The Deathworld Trilogy. His 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! became the basis for the famous science fiction film Soylent Green (1973), starring Charlton Heston.

Harrison had an affinity for series work, and most of his 58 novels are part of a series including the Brion Brandd novels (2 titles), Tony Hawkin (2), To the Stars (3), The Hammer and the Cross (3), Stars and Stripes (3), Eden (3), Bill, the Galactic Hero (7), and The Stainless Steel Rat (11). Much of his short fiction also followed this pattern, including the nine “Matter Transmitter” stories.

Harrison’s career spanned nearly six decades. The monumental collection 50 in 50 (Tor, 2002) collects 50 stories written over 50 years. His last novel was The Stainless Steel Rat Returns, published by Tor in 2010.

According to The Official Harry Harrison Website, Harry Harrison died today at the age of 87. He was a vastly influential writer and editor during the formative years of the genre, and he will be much missed.

Art of the Genre: Joe Kubert [1926-2012]

Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Scott Taylor Comments 1 comment

Joe Kubert, comic icon and teacher, passed away August 12th 2012

When I think of Joe Kubert, I think of Sgt. Rock, of comic books and of incredible pencils, but first and foremost I think of an inspirational teacher. Most of the time, artists influence the marketplace and world with their art alone, students of their style learning from observing images, but now and again a great artist also becomes a teacher, and for this their lives, and our world, will be forever changed.

So it was for Joe Kurbert, comic icon, and master of his art. Joe’s school, and all the ‘Kubies,’ as his graduates were called, helped define nearly two generations of art since its inception in 1976. Notable names such as Dave Dorman, Tim Truman, and countless others have studied under this master, and because of that, his rank among the all time greats increases tenfold.

Two of his children, sons Adam and Andy, have gone on to follow in their father’s footsteps as well, now respected comic artists in their own right.

His art, so inspiring to all fans, had a subtle quality that somehow managed to be both hard and soft. Emotion was etched into each line, and the movement found in his figures always had a realism I found astonishing when reading gritty war stories from his formative, post WWII, years in the industry.

He was another outstanding member of ‘The Greatest Generation,’ and the principles for which he lived his life, and the kindness and generosity for which he was known, are a shining example to others who I hope will eventually follow in his footsteps.

To this, beyond talented and incredible father, artist, husband, and teacher, I raise a glass. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy, as well as his teachings, will continue. And for that, the world of art will be forever enriched.

Donald J Sobol, October 4, 1924 – July 11, 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Donald J Sobol, the man who created greatly under-rated detective Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, died last week of natural causes at the age of 87.

Sobol, a clerk at the New York Public Library, published Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective in 1963. It was the first of what eventually became 28 volumes featuring the genius boy detective.

While the book was an instant hit, and the adventures of Encyclopedia Brown entertained generations of young readers, it took dogged persistence for Sobol to get his creation in print. According to later interviews, it was rejected no less than twenty-four times before Penguin Books bought it.

Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown books, really collections of short stories, follow the boy detective and his friends as he solved mysteries in his hometown of Idaville for “25¢ per day plus expenses.” Occasionally Encyclopedia would assist his father, the chief of police, solve more serious crimes, but usually he was matching wits with a local gang of bullies led by Bugs Meany.

Sobol continued writing Encyclopedia Brown books his entire career, publishing five new volumes between 2000 and 2010. The most recent, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Carnival Crime, was released in 2011. A twenty-ninth book, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme, is scheduled for release this October, in advance of the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective next year. HBO aired 10 half-hour episodes of Encyclopedia Brown, a live action version of the books with Scott Bremner in the title role, in 1989.

Sobol wrote 50 additional books in his lifetime, including the popular Two-Minute Mysteries and Secret Agents Four. He was born in New York City in 1924 and served in World War II before becoming a clerk at the New York Public Library. The success of the Encyclopedia Brown books allowed him to move to Florida to become a full time writer.

He will be missed.

A Brief Tribute to the Stories of Ray Bradbury

Thursday, June 7, 2012 Brian Murphy Comments 9 comments

the-october-country I came to Ray Bradbury at what is likely a later age than most. I never had to read Fahrenheit 451 in school; if I read one of his short stories as a student I have no recollection. Several years ago, in a desire to start filling in some gaps I had in classic genre fiction, I gave Fahrenheit 451 a try. It was a powerful read and made a profound impact on me. It prompted me to seek out more Bradbury—and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Since then I’ve marveled in the wonders of Dandelion Wine, The Golden Apples of the Sun, The October Country, The Halloween Tree, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles. If somehow you haven’t read any Bradbury yet, my advice is to pick any of the above titles and dive in. I’d recommend one over the others, but there’s no need. They’re all pretty much brilliant. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ve always been a little leery of science fiction and have read far more deeply of fantasy. Rightly or wrongly, my perception is that SF worships at the altar of technology, and is fixated upon cold, clinical subject matter for which I have little interest. But if the genre contained more books like The Martian Chronicles, I might view it a lot differently (a parenthetical aside: Though it may be the subject of a catchy song, to call Bradbury “the greatest sci-fi writer in history” isn’t accurate. Dark fantasy, horror, soft sci-fi, traditional literary fiction—Bradbury has written in them all, and sometimes all at once. He is in many ways genre-defying). Bradbury’s stories are in tune with our humanity and his fiction is life-affirming. They remind us that We’re human, and we’re alive, damn it. Bradbury often said that he loved life and was driven to write not only by his love of libraries and of reading, but of the very act of living itself. And that’s potent fuel for a lifetime of stories.

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