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Marion Zimmer Bradley Passed on
Quite a number of people wrote to us with the news that major fantasy author Marion Zimmer Bradley had passed on Sept. 25. She had suffered from a major heartattack on the 21st, and was unable to recover from it. My condolences to her family - her writing was incredible. Her work on the "Avalon" series of books was incredible, and helped re-define female writing in the fantasy genre.
I would recommend reading anything with her name on it, they're all good. Some are better than others, of course, but I enjoyed every single book of hers that I read (Red Moon and Survivors are my two favorites). This is very sad news for me: I've been a fan of her's for the last ten or so years and I'm saddened that she will no longer be writing new stories or helping new writers get started (many contributers to the S&S books went on to become big names (eg Mercedes Lackey (sp?) and Charles de Lint)).
*Sigh*, time to work on finishing my MZB collection.
Bill - aka taniwha
--
Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
This is an internet wake. We're all sitting around our computers posting eulogies to Slashdot about someone many many geeks held in high regard. If this isn't a net wake/funeral, I don't know what is.
Bill - aka taniwha
--
Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
However, on a somewhat related matter, as the people that have defined the geek community, whether by being computer leaders, authors, musicans, etc, being to age and pass on, it will be interesting to see how we, the geek community, handle it. Unlike previous generations, where the connection between the common people and the celebs was distant, ours is one where you might be email buddies with a huge celebrity, in terms of the geek community.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
It begs the question: if someone like Gibson, ESR, Linus, or any of the other names commonly associated with geek culture dies, will someone arrange an internet wake/funeral? (and I'm not speaking from the aspect of being the first to have such an event -- death is far above the tactiness of being the first to have a net-broadcast event). The net has brough ppl closer together than at any other time in the past -- I predict that we'll see something like this if someone 'big' does pass away.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
You're right, they do mean the same thing. "Passed on," however, seems to have a gentler connotation. The dead don't care how you say it, of course; these terms are more for the living.
Everyone knows "passed on" means "died." It's not like anyone is trying to fool anyone else. It's simply someone's attempt to break the news in a gentler fashion. For a community of people that tends to like science-fiction and fantasy, and therefore has a connection with this woman, that's quite a considerate gesture. Perhaps not entirely necessary, but considerate nonetheless.
Perhaps "redefining" isn't the appropriate term. She wrote back when the genre was still somewhat amorphous, looking for a definition to call its own. Better to say she helped to define the genre, rather than that she redefined it.
I would have thought that the Renunciates or "Amazons" in the Darkover series were more influental in redefining "female writing in the fantasy genre".
After all, the renunciates appeared much earlier in her writing, and it's the renunciates that you can find at least one book full of short stories written by fans of MZB and her renunciates.
(For those who haven't read her Darkover series: on Darkover there is a culture that is highly repressive of women, regarding them primarily as breeding material. However, there is a group of women called the "Renunciates" or sometimes "Amazons" who have renounced all their previous family ties in favor of allegiance to the rest of their group of women; they live outside the normal societal roles set for women.)
Perhaps Avalon sold more copies to the general (non-sci-fi fan or sci-fi author) community, though.
Also, I'd say that her writing was mostly more science-fiction than fantasy. Darkover and the psionic powers presented there (along with the psionic technology) is much closer to a science fiction kind of basis than true sword-and-sorcerer fantasy. Heck, the majority of the darkover series exists inside of the larger context of a galactic empire, which is hardly the stuff of fantasy novels. The main reason given in her books for the prevalence of swords instead of arrows or other missile weapons is that during Darkover's highest level of psionic technology the risk of destroying the entire planet with long-distance weapons caused everybody to agree not to use any form of long-distance weapon.
Mostly, this means I won't get to read any more of her excellent writing, since there won't be anymore. She truly was one of a fairly few really good authors out there that have been producing books for a long time. (It wasn't all that long ago that I read a book of hers written in 1968 -- it was still interesting and relevant, though the computers that appeared in it had the same problem as computers in ST:TOS -- big things with no visual interface.)
I don't know about you, but I hate the term "passed on", what's wrong with "died"?
It seems to me that death is a dirty word,
and that some people are offended by the fact that life is terminal.
Folks!
Life is going to end, even your own life, you should except it.
You're not going to pass on to anywhere, you're gonna croak, and be eaten by worms.
---
The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck,
---
I'm going to live forever, or die in the attempt.
I think genres are continually being redefined, added to, changed, etc... any author who writes interesting new material is doing so. For an obvious example, take the authors that contributed to the whole cyberpunk subgenre of SF - since then, there has been a set of new ideas that countless other stories have drawn on.
In this case, though I haven't read much of MZB's work, I can say that "The Mists of Avalon" managed to tell the arthurian tale without sounding like either a lame kids book, or a boring history text. That was a first for me! I think through that book, and others like it, she convinced a number of people that fantasy isn't just about warrior chicks wearing chainmail bikinis slaying beasties and reaping the rewards - many people began to accept it as a valid genre of Literature. It certainly renewed my faith after having read too many utterly mindless fantasy clones.
I would like to think that someone could die without the discussion degerating into a flamewar on Slashdot. But I am not that naive.
Marion Zimmer Bradley stood out. Maybe she wasn't J.R.R. Tolkien or Issac Asimov, but she was a damn sight better then a lot of the other sci-fi/fantasy authors out there.
She was one of the early women in sci-fi/fantasy. Not only in being a writter, but what she wrote. Women usually figured strongly in her books, and could always think for themselves. That was not that common in sci-fi when she began Darkover in the early 1960s.
Mists of Avalon and its sequel was a unique take on the King Arthur legends.
She was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, including naming the organization.
In her Darkover books, she created a fantasy world where technology met medieval society. It was a world that was not limited to one or two books, but was a continuing, evolving story. Furthermore, she was quite willing to let other authors play in her worlds -- something that is quite rare these days. She may not have been the first to do this, but she stood out by it.
And obviously, "quite a number" of Slashdot readers thought the item newsworthy.
I know that I, for one, think she will be dearly missed.
For more information, check out Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
As I think about it, she made a very geeky move a few years back. She declared that in the event of her death, she would will the Darkover series to Mercedes Lackey (another great author, and one who got her start in MZB's short story anthologies). I never thought about the connection until just now, but in many ways her Darkover series was a distant relative of the OSS movement: anyone was and is free to write any stories they want, of course; but the especially good ones she would collect and publish in anthologies along with some of her own short stories and of course the novels. These short stories are as much a part of the Darkover series as anything MZB herself wrote, and many of them were written by authors known in the field (e.g. Diane Duane), some by authors that later became known in the field (e.g. Mercedes Lackey). And now that she can no longer oversee the series, she has passed the baton to someone who could.
A visionary in more ways than one, it seems. She will be missed...
``This, too, shall pass.'' ---Eastern proverb
nascent NeoPagans, homosexuals in hiding, geeks who wondered on the ethics of too-much-power, genetic engineering and the shame of distance weapons. She posited times and places where we (who ever we were) would be agents and be required to think and feel and experience all that our lives "here" seemed to be lacking.
And gave us the sense that once we put down our books, we could have that life if only we would hope, dream, and stand by our honor.
Thank you for all that... and for all the joys and challenges you will bring to thousands to come.
B3 t+ w+ f+ g++ s- -- it's a bear thing...
This book list will give you a good idea of just how much she contributed to the science fiction and fantasy world over the years.
Marion Zimmer Bradley was a force. Her voice for tolerance, one that spoke loudly long before it became popular or even acceptable, will be missed. So will be her eagerness to impart her skill and experience to younger authors. To be remembered fondly, by all those she influenced, and all who have and will yet read her books is a fine legacy. We were fortunate to have her.
The main article says that her work "helped re-define female writing in the fantasy genre," which is not entirely correct. While MZB did have a talent for character development and storytelling, she was not a pioneer. That credit goes to Andre Norton, who blazed the trail that nearly all female SF authors have followed since, MZB included.
MZB was born in 1930, for any who wondered. While I was not a fan myself, I will definitely miss seeing the smiles radiate on the faces of her many admirers, now instead composed in grief at her death.
She was not a Wiccan, as was ofter surmised by those who read her Darkover sequence, but a Christian, so I wish her happiness in whatever world she now finds herself (or, as I am myself an athiest, perhaps I should more properly wish her the respite of complete oblivion). Blessed be and Amen.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
Mrs. Bradley was not only one of the most compelling scifi/fantasy authors in recent years, she was also an inspiration and guide to young authors throughout the world through her dedication to publishing those who were willing to send her their work. I did have 2 works published in her magazine, and was given advice from her in a letter advising me on how to improve my writing. She is a blessed spirit, and wherever she is now, they better treat the lady right. I'd ask anyone who was influenced by her in any way to please send condolences to her family. The world has lost a good person, and her absence will be noted.