RIP: Charles Sheffield

uberdood writes "Dr. Charles Sheffield, noted for such SF works as the Heritage Universe series, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Higher Education, The Ganymede Club, Brothers to Dragons, Cold As Ice, and The Mind Pool, has died of brain cancer at the age of 67. Sheffield will be remembered for colorful characters such as McAndrew - and the wealth of short stories that helped make SF pulp rags so enjoyable. More information can be found via the Washington Post article. One of my favorite authors, dammit."

Comments

Didn't Live It

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's be honest - he was only 67. He didn't get to live his life to the fullest. His life was taken from him by a brain tumor. If you follow his news on his web site or any of various places he published his thoughts, he still had a lot of writing ahead of him.

I met him years ago and he seemed far younger than his actual age. He was a brilliant man and an author who deserved far more recognition than he received. Sheffield was, perhaps, THE finest writer of SCIENCE fiction during his time. He carried a regular job as Chief Scientist at the Earth Sciences Corporation and was more prolific than most full time writers. In a field that barely pays a fair rate for adult novels, he also wrote short stories and novels for young adults. His name should have been ranked with Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke.

Perhaps now that he's gone the SF community will realize what they've lost - or perhaps they'll just go back to reading Star Wars and Star Trek books.

Kermit

Och, Damn.

[Felix The Cat]

As a long-time fan of his McAndrew stories (I'm in the middle of "The Compleat McAndrew" right now), this really saddens me. With these stories, Dr. Sheffield showed that he really knew how to take an esoteric scientific subject (like Kerr-Newman black holes) and explain it in layman terms (through McAndrew trying to explain it to Captain Roker). I haven't read any of his other works, but if they're as good as the McAndrew stuff, I'm probably missing out on some good stuff.

Not true..

[phrackwulf]

Dr. Sheffield continued to work with Earth Satellite Corporation after he turned 40 and his mathematical work was the basis for a lot of Earthsat's early success. He's definitely made a mark in the geology/remote sensing community. Mr. Doug Hall, CEO of Earthsat, sent out a very moving e-mail addressing the man's achievements, which I don't think would be appropriate to post here. Maybe Chris Peterson, of Earthsat, is a slashdotter and could comment further. In answer to the troll above, don't bother. You're obviously far too dumb to know much about geology or the widely varied disciplines Dr. Charles Sheffield worked in. Reminds me of my own field of study, Materials Science. You've probably never heard of that either.

[-)

City on Mars named after him - Kinda cool

[Embedded Geek]

When I read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) I noticed that one of the main cities was named Sheffield. After I saw him mentioned in Robinson's acknowledgements, I always figured that the city was named for him, but was never sure (obviously, Bradbury and other locations were named that way). I never got around to looking into it, but a quick check I ran today shows that is the case.

Kind of a neat way to honor an author you admire, doncha think?

Can someone suggest a reading list?

[Embedded Geek]

I admit it: Sheffield is one of those authors that I never got around to reading (God knows there's so many). Well, now he's gone and I'm gonna make a point to pick up at least one of his books and give him a try. A quick search got me a list of his works. As with most prolific authors, though, it's difficult for me to figure out where to start.

So, here's my question: Does anyone who has read him have a suggestion on which book would be a good one as a first read? Not necesarrily his best (as that might include his series) but a single novel or collection that would give me a feel for his work and let me know if I would like to dig further into his collected works.

Thanks