Tanith Lee dies

[Vince W]

Apparently she passed away on Sunday. No details yet.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Tor.com provides more information:
http://www.tor.com/2015/05/26/tanith-lee-in-remembrance/

 

[Ray McCarthy]

One of my favourite Authors, though I've not read many of her books.

Born in 1967

A typo?
Wikipedia says aged 67 born 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanith_Lee
What a shame.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Oh, that's terrible news. She was an amazing writer, one of my very favorites. I've always been in awe of her talent, because she managed to be both incredibly prolific and excellent, an exceedingly rare combination, and she was so versatile, too. I interviewed her a few years ago, and she was such a lovely person.

She will definitely be missed.

 

[The Judge]

I've only read one of her books so far, Night's Master, but I was captivated by it -- lush, sensual and beautifully written.

 

[Hex]

I loved her children's books. She was a wonderful writer.

 

[Foxbat]

I've read a few of her books and enjoyed them. I particularly enjoyed Death's Master

A real shame.

 

[Grimward]

Rest in peace.

 

[j d worthington]

I must admit that this one hits me harder than many. She was a unique talent, and yes, the quality of her writing was amazing, particularly given her prolificity and range. This one is going to most definitely be missed....

 

[Boneman]

Ian Thwaite's interview of her at Worldcon 2013 was one of the best I've seen/listened to - she came over as such a balanced human being, with a great sense of humour.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

A very fine author. RIP Tanith... Her The Silver Metal Lover is a truly exceptional novel, a must-read for all genre readers.

 

[The Judge]

Another obit http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/26/fantasy-and-horror-writer-tanith-lee-dies-aged-67

 

[DrMclony]

RIP Tanith Lee.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Her The Silver Metal Lover is a truly exceptional novel, a must-read for all genre readers.

I agree. Not only does it ask some very important questions about humanity, it gripped me emotionally from almost the very beginning.

 

[J-Sun]

It's got to be a good book if I keep it on my shelves with a title (and cover) like that. But, yeah, I recommend it, too.

I expressed elsewhere my shock at this - I don't know that anything like this is ever shock-free but it certainly seemed especially untimely - apparently she'd been ill but I hadn't heard anything about it, so it came out of the blue to me. Definitely a varied and interesting writer and definitely a loss.

Of course, she'd already been "lost" in a way (to the readership, if not to friends and family), thanks to the New Publishing. (No book published by a major house for at least eight years, no collection of the sort since the 80s. (Congrats to the Chrons' own Ian Whates for publishing a couple of Lee books in that period.)) I don't know if this is appropriate in a thread like this, but it is appropriately mournful. A post elsewhere brought this entire Realms of Fantasy review to my attention and is worth reading in full.

(In it, she also mentions Don't Bite the Sun as sitting in a box in the early days. That's another great example of her really quirky SF that I recommend, along with its sequel (Drinking Sapphire Wine), available in an omnibus mmpb from Hamlyn (1979 UK as Drinking Sapphire Wine) and Spectra (1999 US as Biting the Sun).)

 

[JoanDrake]

I read one book by her years ago, but it was during a nonreading period of my life so I had forgotten her by the time my reading resumed. I remember being impressed by the way she handled dark material, keeping it fully grim and yet not becoming absorbed by that aspect of it. It's tragic how the best always seem to be taken from us too early. RIP

 

[Perpetual Man]

Unfortunately I cannot remember whether I have read any of her books or not, but a memory that does stand out is her writing two episodes of the British SF show Blake's 7 (A low budget but very popular show over here, ran from 78 - 81, created by Terry Nation the man who created the Daleks)

Lee wrote the third season episode 'Sarcophagus' and the fourth season 'Sand' Both stand out as being different to the general run of episodes and at the time I found the first to be a bit strange. But now I can see it as something a lot more thought provoking and original than the others, while Sand was probably one of only two highlights in the fourth and final season.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Art by Danny Flynn.

 

[MWagner]

I read The Birthgrave and its sequels when I was a teen. They had a big influence on me. The dark sword and sorcery vibe. The world more based on a decadent Rome than a medieval Northern Europe. It was probably the first SFF book I read with a strong female protagonist.

Of course, she'd already been "lost" in a way (to the readership, if not to friends and family), thanks to the New Publishing. (No book published by a major house for at least eight years, no collection of the sort since the 80s. (Congrats to the Chrons' own Ian Whates for publishing a couple of Lee books in that period.)) I don't know if this is appropriate in a thread like this, but it is appropriately mournful. A post elsewhere brought this entire Realms of Fantasy review to my attention and is worth reading in full.

That was a sad interview. It sums up the death of the midlist right there.

 

[HareBrain]

I read The Birthgrave and its sequels when I was a teen.

I read The Birthgrave a few months ago, and even as a jaded forty-something it was quite an affecting work of imagination, and satisfyingly unpredictable. That interview you linked to was from 2009 (I think), and it seems some time after that she decided to publish her back catalogue herself, which was how I got my copy. A shame she had to do that, though.