Jan Stirling (b.1950) died on May 8.  Stirling published her first story, “Were-Wench” in 1995 in the anthology Chicks in Chainmail and went on to publish stories in three additional volumes of the series.  She published a total of five solo short stories and an additional six stories written in collaboration with her husband, S.M. Stirling. […]

Author Norton Juster (b.1929) died on March 8.  Juster was working as an architect when he began work on a book on urban planning aimed at children. The book eventually became The Phantom Tollbooth, which has been adapted for the screen and stage. Juster also wrote The Dot and the Line. Other books included Alberic the Wise and […]

Mary Elizabeth Sheridan (b.1938) died on January 17.  Sheridan served as the administrator for the Clarion Writers Workshop in East Lansing, Michigan for three decades. Sheridan worked as a liaison between the workshop and the university, arranging to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible for the workshop attendees and the visiting instructors. When Clarion […]

Storm Constantine (b.1956) died on January 14 following a long illness. Constantine published her first novel, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, in 1987, kicking off her long-running Wraeththu series, which is comprised of multiple trilogies as well as several short stories. She later published books in the Corinna Trogarden series, the Grigori Trilogy, and […]

SFWA Grand Master James E. Gunn (b.1923) died on December 23, 2020.  Gunn served as SFWA President from 1971-1972. Gunn began publishing science fiction in 1949 with the short story “Communications”, using the byline Edwin James. Over the years, he built up parallel careers as both a science fiction author and an academic. His first novel, […]

Phyllis Eisenstein (b.1946) died on December 7. Eisenstein’s novels included Sorcerer’s Son, In the Red Lord’s Reach, and Shadow of Earth. Eisenstein published two volumes in the Tales of Alaric the Minstrel series and two volumes of the Book of Elementals trilogy. She also published two stand-alone novels.  Many of her early short stories were published in collaboration with […]

Dean Ing (b.1931) died on June 21. Ing published his first two stories in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he published several short stories and his first novel, Soft Targets.  In 1979, his novelette “Devil You Don’t Know” was nominated for the Nebula and Hugo Award. Additional novels, such as Anasazi and Single Combat followed and after the death of […]

Former SFWA President Ben Bova (b.1932) died from COVID-19 related pneumonia and a stroke on November 29.  Bova served two consecutive terms as SFWA President from 1990-1992. Bova published his first novel, The Star Conquerors in 1959 and published several novels and short stories throughout the 1960s.  In 1972, he took over the reins of Analog following the death […]

Debra Doyle (b.1952) died at her home from a cardiac arrest on October 31st. She published her first co-written story, “Bad Blood,” in 1988 with husband James Macdonald. Doyle and Macdonald co-wrote all of their works, which included numerous young adult novels. In 1992, they received the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature for the […]

Rachel Caine (b.1962) died on November 1 after being diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in 2018. Caine, the primary nom de plume for Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, began publishing novels and short stories in 1990. At one time a professional musician and a corporate communications manager, she began writing full time in 2010. Caine’s work includes […]