Hard Science Fiction Master Greg Bear Dies at Age 71 (thegamer.com) 41
In 1999, Slashdot editor Hemos said Greg Bear was "rightly recognized as a master of hard science fiction" (introducing a review of Bear's then-new book, Nebula-winning book Darwin's Radio). In 2011 Bear began writing the Forerunner Saga , a trilogy of books set 100,000 years before the events in the game Halo.
Today theGamer.com writes that Bear has passed away at age 71: Bear's family and fans are paying tribute to the legendary author, who had more than 50 sci-fi novels to his name. Many share fond memories of reading Bear's work and meeting him at conventions, describing him as generous, welcoming, and brilliant. Fans are also sharing their favourite books from Bear in tribute, encouraging others to explore his works to celebrate his legacy.
Bear's wife, Astrid Bear, confirmed the news of his passing in the early hours of Sunday. This was after she revealed that her husband has been placed on life support, with no chance of making a full recovery after the stroke.
More from File770.com: Bear's novels won Nebulas for Moving Mars (1995) and Darwin's Radio. Three other works of short fiction won Nebulas, and two of those — "Blood Music" (1984) and "Tangents" (1987) — also won the Hugo....
Bear sold his first short story, "Destroyers", to Famous Science Fiction at age 15, and along with high-school friends helped found San Diego Comic-Con.
He also published work as an artist at the beginning of his career, including illustrations for an early version of theÂStar Trek Concordance,Âand covers forÂGalaxyÂandÂF&SF. He was a founding member of the Association of Science Fiction Artists. He even created the cover for his novel, Psychlone...
Today theGamer.com writes that Bear has passed away at age 71: Bear's family and fans are paying tribute to the legendary author, who had more than 50 sci-fi novels to his name. Many share fond memories of reading Bear's work and meeting him at conventions, describing him as generous, welcoming, and brilliant. Fans are also sharing their favourite books from Bear in tribute, encouraging others to explore his works to celebrate his legacy.
Bear's wife, Astrid Bear, confirmed the news of his passing in the early hours of Sunday. This was after she revealed that her husband has been placed on life support, with no chance of making a full recovery after the stroke.
More from File770.com: Bear's novels won Nebulas for Moving Mars (1995) and Darwin's Radio. Three other works of short fiction won Nebulas, and two of those — "Blood Music" (1984) and "Tangents" (1987) — also won the Hugo....
Bear sold his first short story, "Destroyers", to Famous Science Fiction at age 15, and along with high-school friends helped found San Diego Comic-Con.
He also published work as an artist at the beginning of his career, including illustrations for an early version of theÂStar Trek Concordance,Âand covers forÂGalaxyÂandÂF&SF. He was a founding member of the Association of Science Fiction Artists. He even created the cover for his novel, Psychlone...
I hope he finds his way (Score:2)
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I don't, but now I'm wondering about the other killer Bs.
Forge of God, OMG! (Score:4, Interesting)
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In the timeframe when it came out, I was still mostly optimistic that technology would carry us forward, so you really needed super-advanced aliens dropping black holes on your planet to destroy things. It makes me sad that instead going out with a glorious bang, we're just going to kind of gradually suffocate in our own waste products, like some sort of bacterial colony.
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RIP Greg
Re: Forge of God, OMG! (Score:2)
Moving Mars was a beautiful novel. (Score:2)
“You are what you leave behind.”-G Bea (Score:5, Insightful)
RIP Mr. Bear, and thanks for what you've left.
My favourite SF author. (Score:2)
Blood Music was amazing. (Score:2)
I discovered Bear in high school, maybe middle school. Blood Music was like . The Eon series was neat. I always hoped for a sequel to Hegira, it was just a super interesting concept, though I can see how it would be challenging for a sequel to maintain the style (kind of like Ringworld, you can only introduce the amazing concept once, then it's just background for further adventures). There were clunkers in there, but he maintained a baseline readability even when things weren't firing on all cylinders.
Eon (Score:3)
A book so bad we used to amuse ourselves by reading random parts out to each other for a good laugh.
Terrible book and I avoided him ever after. Was it an anomaly, or typical of his output?
Wondering the same thing (Score:1)
I have a few of his books, but from what I remember reading (not even sure which ones I tried reading) I don't remember liking them much, or even finishing the book.. maybe it was Eon that you mentioned. Should probably try to read (or re-read) Forge of God since many people seem to like.
Re: Eon (Score:2)
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Im sure your carefully constructed vision of the world centuries from now, including its technology and institutions, is way better, huh?
I guess you've not read Eon, then. The fact that he couldn't construct a convincing vision of 2005 - which he imagined would be populated by cliches and one-dimensional characters - sort of undermined any faith that his far-future world in the later part of the book had any validity. Although, to be fair he was consistent; the futuristic world was populated by cliches and one-dimensional characters too.
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Im sure your carefully constructed vision of the world centuries from now, including its technology and institutions, is way better, huh?
I guess you've not read Eon, then.
I have. Do you have any specific criticisms that make sense?
The fact that he couldn't construct a convincing vision of 2005
Absolutely irrelevant.
- which he imagined would be populated by cliches and one-dimensional characters -
Looks like he was ahead of his time, seems exactly what the modern internet is full of.
sort of undermined any faith that his far-future world in the later part of the book had any validity.
Maybe you read Eon but it's pretty clear you couldn't get your head around it if the best criticism you have to offer is about the characters.
Although, to be fair he was consistent; the futuristic world was populated by cliches and one-dimensional characters too.
Much like "that guy" who criticizes a masterpiece of science fiction on the day its author dies. No one wants to be like "that guy".
So it's good that you don't like it.
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Maybe you read Eon but it's pretty clear you couldn't get your head around it if the best criticism you have to offer is about the characters.
Characters are generally what makes a list of ideas into a story worth reading.
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Maybe you read Eon but it's pretty clear you couldn't get your head around it if the best criticism you have to offer is about the characters.
Characters are generally what makes a list of ideas into a story worth reading.
Bear's characters place the reader into another reality of ideas by staying out of the way, lean characters with no baggage. Bear does this in most of his books so it is unlikely you would like any of his work.
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You forgot to mention which book you found terrible ...
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You forgot to mention which book you found terrible ...
Other than putting it in the title, you mean?
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You forgot to mention which book you found terrible ...
Pay the hater no heed, it means Eon and Eternity are doing something right. Frankly they are astounding books.
Poul Anderson's son in law (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Poul Anderson's son in law (Score:2)
Steve1952 observed:
FYI, I believe that Bear was also Poul Anderson's son in law as well.
He was, indeed.
I recall meeting Astrid Anderson at St. LouisCon [wikipedia.org] in 1969. She was more-or-less the teenage queen of the 'con, and I, at 16 years of age, was too young for an 18-year-old semi-celebrity like her even to notice. But I certainly noticed her - and the fondly-indulgent eye her famous father kept on her, despite the demands his own fans made on his attention.
I'm sure she must be devastated at Greg's passing. She married him in 1983 [wikipedia.org], and when you're bonded to someone for that long
One of the few recent SF authors I liked (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to think 71 was quite old - now I realize it's too young.
I've thoroughly enjoyed every book of his that I've read - this will motivate me to read the rest. Thank you, and rest in peace Mr. Bear.
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I've noticed they seem to be catching up to me these years... Used to be they were old fogies, but he was only a few years older...
But I've only read five of his books, and Blood Music seems to be the only one that left a strong but mixed impression... However when an author passes I like to scour the local libraries for unread books, so I'm off to that objective now.
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Different people obviously can have different tastes; plus what they want to get out of a book can vary greatly. With Sci Fi or Fantasy, I mainly want to be entertained... if there's some deeper meaning, that's great - but I'm not bothered if it's "just a story", as long as the story is good.
Specific to Greg Bear - I tend to be a bit biased towards him, I think, because the first book of his I read was actually part of the Foundation series that "the Killer B's" put together after Asimov died. I felt like o
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Blood Music is the only book of Bear's that I've read, but it left a lasting impression. When I think of favourite SF books, that one's always at least in the top 10. I guess it's time to seek out some of his other books.
Re: One of the few recent SF authors I liked (Score:2)
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Now that you reminded me... Yeah, I did read that one but didn't much like it. Perhaps I felt it was too derivative from Asimov's "The Ugly Little Boy"?
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Darwin's Radio has been on my 'to read' pile for ten years at least. Time to crack that puppy open.
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Humans learn by telling each other stories. Without that ability we'd be a very limited species indeed, only able to learn from what we've directly experienced.
Good fiction can teach many lessons.
Re: Fiction (Score:2)
Star Wars: Rogue Planet (Score:2)
RIP Greg Bear (Score:2)
I always considered Bear's writing to be America's answer to Sir Arthur C Clarke.
The grace and scope of what Bear created, the mind bending ideas in Eon and Eternity. The power of Forge of God and Anvil of Stars, to put global catastrophe into perspective. I read "Strength of Stones" in a single night because I could not put it down exploring the idea of sentient cities. Star War's, Star Trek, Halo stories. Horror stories.
Bear enriched my mind, it was too soon and the world has lost a great imaginat
Eon (Score:2)
One of my favorite ideas in science fiction is the universe imagined in Eon. My condolensces to everyone.
Amazing Author (Score:2)
So very sad, he wrote so many amazing books and the one Star Trek book he wrote (#15 Corona) was superb.