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SF Great Poul Anderson, 1926-2001
"Friends,
Poul Anderson passed away last night, July 31-August 1, around midnight. During the afternoon, he received hundreds of emails and messages from friends and readers and fellow writers, which Astrid and Karen printed out and read to him. He died knowing (and how!) that he was loved and valued, and hearing how much his work had entertained and moved so many. Though he was weak at the end, there was no loss of mental capacity, and my last conversation with him was slow but sparkling with the curiosity and deep-seated gentlemanliness that Poul always had, and which was, I think, built into his whole body and being.
He is survived by his wife and writing partner, Karen, his daughter Astrid, brother John, grandchildren Erik and Alexandra, nieces Janet and Cathy, and by millions of readers.'
Poul Anderson was an extraordinarily rare kind of man, a brilliant writer with an impressive intellect who was yet always open, friendly, approachable, and a downright decent human being. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife Karen on several occasions over the years at BayCon, and I will always treasure the experience. I extend my sympathies to Karen and condolences to his family.
You can look up Poul's impressive bibliography or read an interview he did for Locus a few years ago. You can also read an obituary at the Locus site, or this notice at SFWA."
May he go forth in the sunrise boat,
May he come port in the sunset boat,
May he go among the imperishable stars,
May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years.
-The Book of Going Forth by Daylight
He will be missed
Quite agree re: "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth"; my own favourites would include The Broken Sword and the Nick van Rijn/Polesotechnic League/Flandry stories -- whenever I can find them! But then, I grew up with those, and not his own proudest works.
I think D&D got its regenerating rubbery trolls from Three Hearts and Three Lions (not Swords, but we seem to have a large enough population of regenerating rubbery trolls here on
Agreed. Unfortunately, the "Science Fiction/Fantasy" section in the bookstore is about 98% fantasy nowadays (WHY do they throw those two together???) Good, hard science fiction is pretty rare nowadays, although not unheard of. I particularly like the Uplift series of books by Brin, who is a relatively young guy.
I've come to the point where I pretty much hate fantasy. I simply can't read another unicorn/elf/wizard book with the same plot about "geeky guy becomes hero" that basically tried to fill some geeky writer's personality holes. :)
Memo to bookstore owners: Separate the sections!!!
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Having watched someone fight along and often hopeless fight with cancer, I extend deepest condolences to the Anderson family. I can only hope that their loss will be made more bearable by the great legacy that Poul left behind.
:-(
Like (I'm sure) many slashdotters, I grew up reading as much science fiction as I could get my hands on. Poul Anderson was one of those who produced a great deal of the best work which I so eagerly digested, along with the likes of Heinlein, Asimov, Foster, and Bradbury. (antiflame: this list is by no means intended to be complete) Lately, it seems that there are fewer and fewer such bright lights in this trade. If Orson Scott Card quits writing, I don't know what I'll do
Take care, Poul.
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