First Jan Howard Finder (AKA “Wombat”) died February 26.
Now Locus Online brings word that Richard E. Geis, Hugo-winning fanzine editor of Science Fiction Review and The Alien Critic, died back on February 4th.
I wasn’t particular close to either of them, but both were on the Nova Express mailing list, and I occasionally got mail from them.
Geis may be most famous for killing the porn book market for writers in the 1970s. Writers used to be able to get $1,000 a pop for a porn novel (not great, but far from chicken feed), but Geis turned them out so fast the price dropped to $500 a pop.
And here’s an appreciation of Geis by Michael Swanwick.
About Lawrence Person
Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Postscripts, Jim Baen's Universe, Fear, and several anthologies. He also edits the Hugo-nominated SF critical magazine Nova Express, and runs the Turkey City Writer's Workshop. His non-fiction has appeared in National Review, Reason, Whole Earth Review, The Freeman, The World & I, Science Fiction Eye, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Slashdot.org. He owns such a large library (mostly science fiction first editions) he had to buy a two-story house to put it in, and then adopted a golden retriever to drag him out of his house on a regular basis. He also makes a mean batch of salsa.
