RIP Janet Kagan.
When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of science fiction magazines. I still do, but they don't have the same stories, because when I was a kid, they published these fabulous tales about a woman named Anne 'Jason' Masmajean, and her adventures on the mixed-up planet of Mirabile. I remember when the stories were collected in an anthology (called, fittingly enough, Mirabile); I found it in a spinner at my local Longs, and my Gramma bought it for me, and I read it ten times that summer. Ever since then, it's been one of my 'if you find this, buy it to give away' books, because it's amazing and wonderful, and too many people have never had the chance to read it.
I found out later that the author, Janet Kagan, had also written a book called Hellspark, which is one of the most incredible pieces of social science science fiction I've ever encountered. It's fascinating on a dozen different levels, and it delights me every time I read it. Both these books are unsung classics of the genre -- whispered, sure, discussed in low voices in empty rooms, and shared between friends, but never recognized as widely or as openly as they absolutely should have been. They're amazing books, written by an amazingly gifted woman.
Janet Kagan died today.
I never met her, although I always wanted to; the opportunity just wasn't there. I know her books, though, well enough to mourn for the loss of the woman who wrote them, and she knew friends of mine well enough that they're mourning something a great deal more concrete.
Do yourself a favor. Go to the used bookstore or online book seller of your choice; look for Mirabile and Hellspark, two of the books I would absolutely take with me if I was to be stranded on a desert island with only my favorites to console me. You won't be sorry that you did.
It's so strange to think that the woman who wrote them is gone.
I found out later that the author, Janet Kagan, had also written a book called Hellspark, which is one of the most incredible pieces of social science science fiction I've ever encountered. It's fascinating on a dozen different levels, and it delights me every time I read it. Both these books are unsung classics of the genre -- whispered, sure, discussed in low voices in empty rooms, and shared between friends, but never recognized as widely or as openly as they absolutely should have been. They're amazing books, written by an amazingly gifted woman.
Janet Kagan died today.
I never met her, although I always wanted to; the opportunity just wasn't there. I know her books, though, well enough to mourn for the loss of the woman who wrote them, and she knew friends of mine well enough that they're mourning something a great deal more concrete.
Do yourself a favor. Go to the used bookstore or online book seller of your choice; look for Mirabile and Hellspark, two of the books I would absolutely take with me if I was to be stranded on a desert island with only my favorites to console me. You won't be sorry that you did.
It's so strange to think that the woman who wrote them is gone.