In Memoriam: 2007's Great Genre Writers

With the year drawing to a close, it’s time to look back at some of the memorable figures that passed away in 2007. Three in particular stand out for the geek crowd – three incredibly prominent science-fiction and fantasy authors that the would will miss greatly. While they leave behind their timeless stories, our collective voice is diminished with their passing. And so it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut
(November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007)
Kurt Vonnegut’s contributions to American fiction are unmistakable, from his short stories, carrying cultural commentary and delivering cautionary messages, to his novels – particularly Slaughterhouse Five, an amazing story that not only delivers Vonnegut’s memory of the burning of Dresden, but carries a fascinating story as well, with a lot to think about as far as free will and predestination. Forget about that faux graduation commencement speech that makes the rounds every couple of years (it wasn’t actually Vonnegut’s words) and take the time to read some of this brilliant author’s work. Admittedly, I’ve spent part of this year finally visiting some of Vonnegut’s work myself – too late to appreciate the author within his own lifetime, but it’s Vonnegut’s own Slaughterhouse that reminds us that a person is never truly dead, because there are always moments in time where they are still living. Still, it’s sad to be in the time that Vonnegut isn’t living. So it goes.

Madeleine L’Engle
(November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007)
I’ve been a fan of science-fiction and fantasy for as long as I can remember, so I don’t know what the first sci-fi novel was that truly turned me onto the genre, but I know L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was close to the beginning. The concepts of tessaracts and folding time and space have stuck with me, eventually drawing me to Frank Herbert, among other authors. I remember as a teen reading the other stories in the series, following the Murray family through other unbelievable adventures, but A Wrinkle in Time stayed with me, to the point that I’ve reread it a few times even into adulthood, and dreaded the Disney adaptation of the movie a few years ago, which was just as awful as L’Engle herself expected it to be. Although it’s been years since L’Engle published a new book, her passing is still a reason to remember her contributions. So it goes.

Robert Jordan
(October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007)
Probably the most tragic of the three, Jordan passed away with his story incomplete – at least as far ast he telling goes. Although, much as I predicted at the time, someone else will carry the torch and finish the Wheel of Time series (Brandon Sanderson was announced earlier this month by Tor Books), it’s always a shame when an author doesn’t get to finish their own story. Jordan’s passing was a grim reminder of our own mortality, and another reason (as if we needed one) to remember to do the most with the time we have, because we never know when it will be over with. So it goes.