obiturary

June 28, 2018

Goodbye to the incomparable grandmaster Harlan Ellison

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Harlan Ellison, obit, obiturary

All of us at Tachyon are saddened by the news of the iconic Harlan Ellison’s death.

Harlan Ellison at the Harlan Ellison Roast. L.A. Press Club July 12, 1986 (Photo: Pip R. Lagenta [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

The writer or editor of more than 75 books, over 1,700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns, two dozen teleplays, and a dozen movies, the legandary Harlan Ellison’s many influential works included such classics as Deathbird Stories, Dangerous Visions, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Strangewine, Angry Candy, Slippage, and SHATTERDAY. He won multiple Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, Stoker, Locus, and Audie awards as well as the Silver Pen, World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Bradbury, and American Mystery awards. Ellision was honored with Stoker and World Fantasy Life Achievement Awards and is a SFWA Grandmaster.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones.

January 24, 2018

Visionary Ursula K. Le Guin Dead at 88

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized obiturary, ursula k. le guin

Gorthian (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Common

Everyone at Tachyon is saddened by the death of the influential and groundbreaking Ursula K. Le Guin. She produced over 20 novels, 12 books of poetry, more than 100 short stories, seven collections of essays, 13 books for children, a guide for writers, and five volumes of translation, including the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and selected poems by the Chilean Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral. Le Guin’s numerous influential works included the Earthsea series, The Lathe of Heaven, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed.

Marian Wood Kolisch via New York Times

While we sadly never published any of her books, several of Le Guin’s stellar shorter works graced many of our anthologies: EPIC, THE ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION 30TH ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY, THE SECRET HISTORY OF FANTASY, THE SECRET HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION, THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, and in all three of THE JAMES TIPTREE AWARD ANTHOLOGY volumes.

She will be missed by all those who loved her and her work.

August 21, 2017

Goodbye to the extraordinary Brian Aldiss

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized brian aldiss, obiturary

All of us at Tachyon are saddened by the news of the legendary Brian Aldiss’ death on his 92nd birthday.

Photo: John Lawrence

Science Fiction Grandmaster Aldiss over 100 books include the science-fiction masterpieces HOTHOUSE, GREYBEARD, FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, THE MALACIA TAPESTRY, FINCHES OF MARS, and the Helliconia Trilogy. The short story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” served as the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

His many short stories and essays have been collected in SPACE, TIME AND NATHANIEL, THE BOOK OF BRIAN ALDISS, SCIENCE FICTION BLUES, PROGRAMME BOOK, SUPERTOYS LAST ALL SUMMER LONG AND OTHER STORIES OF FUTURE TIME, CULTURAL BREAKS, THE INVENTION OF HAPPINESS, THE BRIAN ALDISS COLLECTION: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, and more.

Aldiss receiving a special award at World Fantasy 2013

Among his several works of nonfiction are the pioneering book of science fiction criticism BILLION YEAR SPREE (revised as TRILLION YEAR SPREE [with David Wingrove]), … AND THE LURID GLARE OF THE COMET, THE DETACHED RETINA: ASPECTS OF SF AND FANTASY, and AN EXILE ON PLANET EARTH: ARTICLES AND REFLECTIONS. As an anthologist Aldiss produced numerous influential collections such as PENGUIN SCIENCE FICTION, YEARS BEST SCIENCE FICTION (with Harry Harrison, Volumes 1-6), SPACE OPERA, and A SCIENCE FICTION OMNIBUS. His prodigious output includes eight volumes of poetry.

John Brunner, Brian Aldiss, Carol & Fred Pohl, and Walter Ernsting at LonCon II, the 1965 World Science Fiction Convention

Aldiss’ works have garnered him a myriad of awards and accoladed, including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, Locus, British Science Fiction, Ditmar, and Eaton awards. In 2005, he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature. The electronic pop duo Echoes In Rows released a song entitled “Brian Aldiss” in 2010.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones.

May 12, 2017

Goodbye to the influential Anne R. Dick

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anne r dick, obiturary, pkd, the search for philip k dick

All of us at Tachyon
are saddened by the news of Anne R. Dick’s death.

Anne R. Dick at her home in Point Reyes Station, CA. (Credit: Craig Lee for The New York Times)

The third wife of
the legendary Philip K. Dick, Anne R. Dick crafted one seminal works
on her late husband THE SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK. The
personal memoir and biography book follows Philip K. Dick from
childhood to the course of their marriage (1958-1964), which also
coincided with the perhaps
his most fertile creative period. During
that time he penned 17 novels, including
several of his most celebrated works: THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE
THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, MARTIAN TIME-SLIP, CONFESSIONS OF
A CRAP ARTIST and DR. BLOODMONEY.

Immediately
after his death, Anne R. Dick began the research for SEARCH
FOR PHILIP K. DICK, 1928-1982,
the first Dick biography. It was completed in 1984 and first
published in 1995 as a $120 hardback from Edwin Mellen Press.
Thankfully the manuscript was given to all Dick biographers, allowing
a unique insider’s account to an important literary figure. In
2009, Dick revised the work for an affordable self-published edition
and then again
for the current Tachyon Publications edition.

Anne Rubenstein and Philip K. Dick in 1958, shortly before they married. (Credit Courtesy of Rubenstein Archives/The New York Times)

Shortly
after their divorce, Dick began selling her sculptures and jewelry.
In 1965, she began producing individual necklace, placing the them in
galleries and high-quality. Eventually Dick become know as a pioneer
in the American Crafts movement whose bronze jewelry has been
exhibited around the world.

Anne with sculpture (Credit: Self-Publishing Review)

She
also published and 7 books of poetry and
2 more non-fiction books including
THE
LETTERS OF MY GRANDFATHER, MOSES PERRY JOHNSON.

She
is survived by her daughters Hatte (Rubenstein) Blejer, Tandy
(Rubenstein) Ford and Laura (Dick) Leslie and grandchildren Aaron and
Chris Brown, Evan Reano, Ariella and Mike Blejer, Kimberly and Dave
Ford, and Lisa and Justin Coelho, as well as three great
grandchildren, Lily Coelho, Aeton Schey and Max Brown, her
sons-in-law, David, Mark, and Russ.

Our
thoughts are with her
loved
ones.

May 1, 2017

Goodbye to the amazing Grania Davis

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized death, grania davis, obiturary

All of us at Tachyon are saddened by the news of our long time friend Grania Davis’s death.

Jack Vance and Grania Davis in 2005 at the Tachyon 10th Anniversary Party (Photo: Jeremy Lassen/LOCUS)

Editor and writer Davis penned THE RAINBOW ANNALS and MOONBIRD. With Davidson, she co-wrote MARCO POLO AND THE SLEEPING BEAUTY and THE BOSS IN THE WALL, which received a World Fantasy Award nomination. Davis’ short fiction has been collected in TREE OF LIFE, BOOK OF DEATH.

Davis has edited several collections of Davidson’s work including THE AVRAM DAVIDSON TREASURY (with Robert Silverberg), THE INVESTIGATIONS OF AVRAM DAVIDSON (with Richard A. Lupoff), and EVERYBODY HAS SOMEBODY IN HEAVEN: ESSENTIAL JEWISH TALES OF THE SPIRIT (with Jack Dann). She (alongside Gene Van Troyer) is responsible for the anthology SPECULATIVE JAPAN: OUTSTANDING TALES OF JAPANESE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY.

Our thoughts are with her loved ones.

January 10, 2017

Goodbye to the respected Linn Prentis

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized her smoke rose up forever, jacob weisman, james tiptree jr, kage baker, linn prentis, linn prentis agency, obiturary, virginia kidd agency, ward moore

Image from the Linn Prentis Twitter page

Literary agent Linn Prentis died December 24, 2016 at 72.

After 15 years, Prentis left the Virginia Kidd Agency to form the Linn Prentis Agency. Originally in New York, she relocated to just outside of Seattle, Washington in 2011, maintaining offices in both Washington and New York.

Prentis’ many clients included Kage Baker, Patricia Briggs, Rick Bowes, and A.M. Dellamonica.

“I first met her when she was with the Kidd agency and Tachyon published a couple of titles with the agency’s clients: a chapbook of poetry by Tiptree and another chapbook by Ward Moore,” reminisces Tachyon Publisher Jacob Weisman. “Our edition of HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER came later. Linn and I became good friends after she left the Kidd Agency and started her own literary agency. Her Harlem apartment was something of a home away from home for me. I’d stay in the back room of her apartment when I traveled to our distributor’s sales conferences in NYC, until she moved to Seattle to live closer to her daughter and Tachyon switched distributors.”

Our thoughts are with her loved ones.

June 28, 2016

An important member of the Tachyon family is gone

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized cat, clyde, elizabeth story, obiturary

The beloved Clyde, who filled the most important role at Tachyon Publications: reminding us of the foolishness of our own vanity, passed away on Monday at the ripe old age of 20.

Illustration by Elizabeth Story

All is threatening to devolve into chaos as we are not certain who is now in charge of cuteness and loud meowing at Tachyon HQ.

He will be missed.

May 13, 2016

Acclaimed writer Katherine Dunn dies at 70

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized attic, boxing, death scenes: a homicide detective's scrapbook, eli dapoloni, geek love, journalism, katherine dunn, near flesh, obiturary, one ring circus: dispatches from the world of boxing, school of hard knocks: the struggle for survival in america’s toughest boxing gyms, the slice: information with an attitude, truck, willamette week

Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images

With great sadness, news came out yesterday that the extraordinary Katherine Dunn died due to complications of lung cancer.

Dunn, perhaps best know for the National Book Award-nominated novel about a circus sideshow, GEEK LOVE, also achieved acclaim as for her numerous articles on boxing, many of which were collected in ONE
RING CIRCUS: DISPATCHES FROM THE WORLD OF BOXING. She wrote SCHOOL OF HARD
KNOCKS: THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN AMERICA’S TOUGHEST BOXING GYMS, which garnered her the Dorothea Lange—Paul Taylor Award. In her forties, Dunn began boxing training and later famously fought off an assault by a man less than half her age.

In this 2009 photo, journalist and author, Katherine Dunn, makes a visit to one of boxing news sources at the Matt Dishman Community Center & Pool boxing gym, in Portland, Ore. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian via AP)

Her humorous columns from the WILLAMETTE WEEK were collected in THE SLICE:
INFORMATION WITH AN ATTITUDE and she supplied the text for
DEATH
SCENES: A HOMICIDE DETECTIVE’S SCRAPBOOK. Dunn also penned the novels ATTIC and TRUCK.

Katherine Dunn will be missed by all who worked with and knew her. Dunn’s short story “Near-Flesh” will be part of a forthcoming Tachyon anthology.

Our thoughts go out to her son Eli Dapoloni.

January 21, 2016

Goodbye to the legendary David G. Hartwell

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized David G. Hartwell, david hartwell, death, jacob weisman, james cummins bookseller, kathryn cramer, obit, obiturary, rina weisman, rip

All of us at Tachyon are saddened by the news of the influential David G. Hartwell’s death.

David Hartwell with Jacob and Rina Weisman at James Cummins Bookseller (photo: Ellen Datlow)

A recipient of the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Eaton awards, David G. Hartwell was a senior editor at Tor/Forge Books and the publisher of the NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, is the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. Hartwell wrote AGE OF WONDERS. His nearly 50 anthologies included THE WORLD TREASURY OF SCIENCE FICTION, THE ASCENT OF WONDER: THE EVOLUTION OF HARD SF (with Kathryn Cramer), THE SCIENCE FICTION CENTURY, NORTHERN SUNS (with Glenn Grant), THE DARK DESCENT, THE HARD SF RENAISSANCE (with Cramer), THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY (with Jacob Weisman), and TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION (Patrick Nielsen Hayden). Hartwell has edited 18 volumes of YEAR’S BEST SF (11 with Cramer) and with Cramer, eight volumes of YEAR’S BEST FANTASY.

After time at Signet and Berkley, Hartwell moved onto Pocket Books, where he founded the Timescape imprint and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line. He edited the best-novel Nebula Award-winners TIMESCAPE by Gregory Benford (1980), THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR by Gene Wolfe (1981), and NO ENEMY BUT TIME by Michael Bishop (1982), as well as the best-novel Hugo Award-winner HOMINIDS by Robert J.Sawyer (2002).

Our thoughts are with his wife and children.