Greg Bear (1951-2022)

Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 11/20/2022 9:19 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>
> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.

Again, sad. And he was only 71. Many of my scifi authors seem to be
passing away.

Lynn

On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 10:19:25 AM UTC-5, James Nicoll wrote:
> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>
> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.

Writer of too many good books to mention.

But I will mention his "Songs of Earth and Power", more original than
99% of all post Tolkien fantasy. I always wanted more, but probably
he was right in leaving it as it was.

William Hyde

On 21/11/2022 15.42, William Hyde wrote:
> On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 10:19:25 AM UTC-5, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>
>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>
> Writer of too many good books to mention.
>
> But I will mention his "Songs of Earth and Power", more original than
> 99% of all post Tolkien fantasy. I always wanted more, but probably
> he was right in leaving it as it was.

I thought that _Eon_ and _Eternity_ were excellent. Unfortunately,
in my mind, _Legacy_ did not live up to the first two.

<https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?940>

--
Michael F. Stemper
Why doesn't anybody care about apathy?

On Sunday, 20 November 2022 at 15:19:25 UTC, James Nicoll wrote:
> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>
> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.

"The Killer Bs" being authors Greg Bear, David Brin, and
Gregory Benford - but I didn't remember the term.

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 4:42:15 PM UTC-5, William Hyde wrote:
> On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 10:19:25 AM UTC-5, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Greg Bear (1951-2022)
> >
> > Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
> Writer of too many good books to mention.
>
> But I will mention his "Songs of Earth and Power", more original than
> 99% of all post Tolkien fantasy. I always wanted more, but probably
> he was right in leaving it as it was.

When I was a bookseller recommended "The Infinity Concerto" and
"The Serpent Mage" to customers looking for intelligent fantasy
that wasn't a Tolkien knock-off.

Greg Bea will be missed.

--
Kevin R

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 10:50:14 PM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Sunday, 20 November 2022 at 15:19:25 UTC, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Greg Bear (1951-2022)
> >
> > Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
> "The Killer Bs" being authors Greg Bear, David Brin, and
> Gregory Benford - but I didn't remember the term.

They used that term for a period from the late 90s through the early 2000s. At one con on a panel with Brin, Bear and Flynn, Brin said "We are all Killer-B's" to which Flynn replied "I'm a mother-F"

jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote in news:tldghp$524$1
@reader2.panix.com:

> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>
> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>
>

Oh no! This is sad news. Had just started his latest, _The Unfinished
Land_, a few days ago. And _Songs of Earth and Power_ was excellent, while
_Anvil of Stars_ is one of my top SF novels of all time. Much more fun than
_Forge of God_ but of course one has to read that first.

71 isn't very old, either. Bah...

On Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:12:28 -0000 (UTC), Johnny Tindalos
<JamaisVu@UnrealEmail.arg> wrote:

>jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote in news:tldghp$524$1
>@reader2.panix.com:
>
>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>
>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>
>Oh no! This is sad news. Had just started his latest, _The Unfinished
>Land_, a few days ago. And _Songs of Earth and Power_ was excellent, while
>_Anvil of Stars_ is one of my top SF novels of all time. Much more fun than
>_Forge of God_ but of course one has to read that first.
>
>71 isn't very old, either. Bah...

No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
mother) The other two were 79 and 84.

I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
you can.

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 10:50:14 PM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Sunday, 20 November 2022 at 15:19:25 UTC, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Greg Bear (1951-2022)
> >
> > Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
> "The Killer Bs" being authors Greg Bear, David Brin, and
> Gregory Benford - but I didn't remember the term.

New to me. No Ballard?

Pt

In article <5804a200-36fb-48a1-9181-d69fefdcb1een@googlegroups.com>,
pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 10:50:14 PM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> On Sunday, 20 November 2022 at 15:19:25 UTC, James Nicoll wrote:
>> > Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>> >
>> > Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of
>strokes.
>> "The Killer Bs" being authors Greg Bear, David Brin, and
>> Gregory Benford - but I didn't remember the term.
>
>New to me. No Ballard?

The three Killer Bs were contemporaries and as I recall were
part of the same SF writing social circle. Ballard was from
an earlier cohort and didn't write hard sf.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 2022-11-20, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>
> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.

I've read:

* _The Forge of God_, where aliens arrive in the solar system and
start disassembling Europa (the moon). Unfortunately, they are
interested in humanity after all and things become very bad.

* _Tangents_, a collection of short stories, none of which I seem
to recall. (A common problem I suffer with short fiction.)

* _Quantico_, which I think was a techno-thriller about bioterrorism
and not really genre science fiction.

<writes and erases a paragraph after googling self>
Ha! I barely remember, but I have indeed seen Greg Bear in the
flesh. He was a guest at the Extropian conferences around the year
2000. If you want to trust my half-buried memory, I'm afraid I was
disappointed. He offered biomystic ramblings and blatantly advertised
his latest novel--dude, you're not at a SF con.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote in
news:ippqnhh6e97fph0bekfcrrfbvjgtpdg5j4@4ax.com:

>>
>>71 isn't very old, either. Bah...
>
> No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
> grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
> mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
> most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
> mother) The other two were 79 and 84.
>
> I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
> underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
> the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
> you can.

Oh dear, I am very sorry to hear this. How absolutely awful. I hope your
doctor is right and that you can keep on kicking it; I'm pretty sure that
there's still things worth seeing.

Not at all the same thing, in any way, but it's been really odd here too.
My friend in her 30s was knocked off her bicycle by a goods lorry on her
way to work and died at the scene, my friend who sang in a rock band died
of a bad heart at the age of 48 and now his kids will grow up with no
dad, and another pal who sang smoky songs in nightclubs passed away in
his early 60s.

And rasfw lost its best poster. This is no way to organise anything!

ObSF: _Hull Zero Three_ was good Bear, and good SF. Apart from _Psyclone_
(still had one good paragraph) and other very early tales, was there
anything he did besides _Darwin's Radio_ and its sequel that wasn't
actually good? _Dead Lines_ makes me taste special mint hot chocolate
whenever I look at the cover. I liked the ecosystem of the afterlife
implied in that....

In article <ed040a94-6eda-4aa1-a5d7-18b7f2151025n@googlegroups.com>,
Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>On Sunday, 20 November 2022 at 15:19:25 UTC, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>
>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>
>"The Killer Bs" being authors Greg Bear, David Brin, and
>Gregory Benford - but I didn't remember the term.

(Hal Heydt)
A trifle unnerving when people younger than oneself die,
especially from things associated with aging. Greg Bear was
about 2 years younger than I am.

I met him a few times, but mostly because I've been acquainted
with Astrid (Anderson) Bear for many years.

In article <ippqnhh6e97fph0bekfcrrfbvjgtpdg5j4@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
>On Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:12:28 -0000 (UTC), Johnny Tindalos
><JamaisVu@UnrealEmail.arg> wrote:
>
>>jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote in news:tldghp$524$1
>>@reader2.panix.com:
>>
>>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>>
>>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>>
>>Oh no! This is sad news. Had just started his latest, _The Unfinished
>>Land_, a few days ago. And _Songs of Earth and Power_ was excellent, while
>>_Anvil of Stars_ is one of my top SF novels of all time. Much more fun than
>>_Forge of God_ but of course one has to read that first.
>>
>>71 isn't very old, either. Bah...
>
>No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
>grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
>mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
>most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
>mother) The other two were 79 and 84.
>
>I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
>underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
>the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
>you can.

(Hal Heydt)
I'm 73. Dorothy died at 80. My father died at 65. His father
died in his 40s (TB in 1917), but his grandfather died at 93
after surviving service for pretty much all of the US Civil war
and at leat 2 trains (the second--that I know of--on convinced him
to retire...at age 75).

My mother died at 92.5. One of her sisters got to at least 99.
Her parents both died in their mid-90s.

One of my sisters died at 67. The other is still alive at 76.

So...a real crap shoot.

On Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:16:36 GMT, djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:

>In article <ippqnhh6e97fph0bekfcrrfbvjgtpdg5j4@4ax.com>,
>The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
>>On Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:12:28 -0000 (UTC), Johnny Tindalos
>><JamaisVu@UnrealEmail.arg> wrote:
>>
>>>jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote in news:tldghp$524$1
>>>@reader2.panix.com:
>>>
>>>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>>>
>>>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>>>
>>>Oh no! This is sad news. Had just started his latest, _The Unfinished
>>>Land_, a few days ago. And _Songs of Earth and Power_ was excellent, while
>>>_Anvil of Stars_ is one of my top SF novels of all time. Much more fun than
>>>_Forge of God_ but of course one has to read that first.
>>>
>>>71 isn't very old, either. Bah...
>>
>>No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
>>grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
>>mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
>>most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
>>mother) The other two were 79 and 84.
>>
>>I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
>>underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
>>the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
>>you can.
>
>(Hal Heydt)
>I'm 73. Dorothy died at 80. My father died at 65. His father
>died in his 40s (TB in 1917), but his grandfather died at 93
>after surviving service for pretty much all of the US Civil war
>and at leat 2 trains (the second--that I know of--on convinced him
>to retire...at age 75).
>
>My mother died at 92.5. One of her sisters got to at least 99.
>Her parents both died in their mid-90s.
>
>One of my sisters died at 67. The other is still alive at 76.
>
>So...a real crap shoot.

It's called "life".
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

On 11/28/2022 11:30 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:16:36 GMT, djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
> Heydt) wrote:
>
>> In article <ippqnhh6e97fph0bekfcrrfbvjgtpdg5j4@4ax.com>,
>> The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:12:28 -0000 (UTC), Johnny Tindalos
>>> <JamaisVu@UnrealEmail.arg> wrote:
>>>
>>>> jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote in news:tldghp$524$1
>>>> @reader2.panix.com:
>>>>
>>>>> Greg Bear (1951-2022)
>>>>>
>>>>> Award-winning "Killer B" SF author dies following a series of strokes.
>>>>
>>>> Oh no! This is sad news. Had just started his latest, _The Unfinished
>>>> Land_, a few days ago. And _Songs of Earth and Power_ was excellent, while
>>>> _Anvil of Stars_ is one of my top SF novels of all time. Much more fun than
>>>> _Forge of God_ but of course one has to read that first.
>>>>
>>>> 71 isn't very old, either. Bah...
>>>
>>> No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
>>> grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
>>> mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
>>> most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
>>> mother) The other two were 79 and 84.
>>>
>>> I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
>>> underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
>>> the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
>>> you can.
>>
>> (Hal Heydt)
>> I'm 73. Dorothy died at 80. My father died at 65. His father
>> died in his 40s (TB in 1917), but his grandfather died at 93
>> after surviving service for pretty much all of the US Civil war
>> and at leat 2 trains (the second--that I know of--on convinced him
>> to retire...at age 75).
>>
>> My mother died at 92.5. One of her sisters got to at least 99.
>> Her parents both died in their mid-90s.
>>
>> One of my sisters died at 67. The other is still alive at 76.
>>
>> So...a real crap shoot.
>
> It's called "life".

Yup.

Lynn

On Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:24:45 -0000 (UTC), Johnny Tindalos
<JamaisVu@UnrealEmail.arg> wrote:

>The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote in
>news:ippqnhh6e97fph0bekfcrrfbvjgtpdg5j4@4ax.com:
>
>
>>>
>>>71 isn't very old, either. Bah...
>>
>> No it isn't. Milady (who left us last March) was 65. Of my parents and
>> grandparents my 30 year chainsmoker grandfather died at 71 while my
>> mother was run over by a 30' RV at 71. (And till that day was the one
>> most likely to be the longest living beating out her 91 year old
>> mother) The other two were 79 and 84.
>>
>> I'm now 67 so am hopeful as at my last checkup my doctor said "your
>> underlying issues are still there but you're better than any time in
>> the last 3-4 years....." and at that age you take your comfort where
>> you can.
>
>Oh dear, I am very sorry to hear this. How absolutely awful. I hope your
>doctor is right and that you can keep on kicking it; I'm pretty sure that
>there's still things worth seeing.

Financially of course I'm fine - I did all the things a guy
approaching retirement was supposed to do - and now I find my savings
are paying for one person not two.

With the exception of one relative who smoked home rolled unfiltered
cigarettes at a rate of two packs a day for 30 years and died of lung
cancer at age 71 and another who was run over by a 30' RV at age 71
all my parents + grandparents died 75+.

Cardiac (which despite the coroner's verdict was almost certainly
milady's demise) issues are probably not going to be my end; stroke or
dementia (which I fear more than anything else and I'm a lot brighter
about it than my father) may well be.

>Not at all the same thing, in any way, but it's been really odd here too.
>My friend in her 30s was knocked off her bicycle by a goods lorry on her
>way to work and died at the scene, my friend who sang in a rock band died
>of a bad heart at the age of 48 and now his kids will grow up with no
>dad, and another pal who sang smoky songs in nightclubs passed away in
>his early 60s.
>
>And rasfw lost its best poster. This is no way to organise anything!

+1 to that. If I keel over tomorrow my 3 kids will get my house free
and clear and suddenly be a lot better off financially at some point.

Some day but not yet please. My granddaughter is now 7 months old;
when my grandfather was the age I am now I was in 11th grade so I have
a few plans yet. My son got an extra middle name - my grandfather's -
as it was obvious from when he was born that that would be as much as
he'd get of my grandfather though his older sisters would remember my
grandfather - and he was the giant of the family (not physically but
in every other way). Since my wife insisted his first name be her
uncle's (who was her godfather) the combination of her one name + my
two made my mother's paternal grandfather's name (different surname)
and he was a Royal Navy ship commander in WW1 so I was good with that.

Childrens' names bear our hopes and dreams so they're important.

>ObSF: _Hull Zero Three_ was good Bear, and good SF. Apart from _Psyclone_
>(still had one good paragraph) and other very early tales, was there
>anything he did besides _Darwin's Radio_ and its sequel that wasn't
>actually good? _Dead Lines_ makes me taste special mint hot chocolate
>whenever I look at the cover. I liked the ecosystem of the afterlife
>implied in that....

Missed those though I was a Bear fan.