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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Joel Rosenberg, who died on June 2, 2011, was the author of over twenty science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels, including the popular Guardians of the Flame fantasy series. Born in Canada on May 1, 1954, he grew up in North Dakota and Connecticut, and spent most of his adult life in Minneapolis. He was also a poker player, a pro-gun activist (who taught a widely-respected course in firearms), a musician, and a friend.

There will be more later from those who know more details, but I want to mention a few things. One is that he put himself out considerably to pull me out of a bad living situation. Another is that I know that for several years he had to win at least $50 a month at poker to pay his rent, and he did. Another is that in the last couple of months, since I returned to Minneapolis, we made music together several times and it was a joy. Another is that when I travel to conventions, I meet fans of his Guardians of the Flame series and it always pleases me. Another is that I really, really like his book D’Shai and the sequels.

He is survived by his wife, Felicia Herman, and his daughters Judy and Rachel.

I wish I could do better at this. I liked him, I respected him, and I’m going to miss him.

Other coverage: Locus. io9. David Dyer-Bennet.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Steven Brust

Author

Steven Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author born in Minnesota in 1955. He is best known for the multi-volume, New York Times-bestselling Vlad Taltos adventure fantasy series beginning with Jhereg (1983), which incorporates a wide variety of storytelling styles and genres, ranging from swords-and-sorcery to hardboiled mystery to financial thriller. He is also the author of a second series of novels set in the Dragaeran Empire of the Vlad books, the Khaavren Romances, which is ostensibly narrated by a Dragaeran historian with an impossibly prolix narrative style which strongly resembles that of a certain late-nineteenth-century English translation of the works of Alexandre Dumas; the first of these is The Phoenix Guards (1991). Other novels by Brust include To Reign in Hell (1984), The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (1987), Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille (1990), The Gypsy (1992, with Megan Lindholm), Freedom and Necessity (1997, with Emma Bull), and a non-Vlad, non-Khaavren stand-alone novel set in the world of the Dragaeran Empire, Brokedown Palace (1986).

Brust is also a songwriter and musician who has served as a drummer in several working ensembles, most notably the Minneapolis group Cats Laughing, which also included SF and fantasy novelist Emma Bull on vocals and, on lead guitar, Adam Stemple, who would later also become a published fantasy author. Cats Laughing’s repertoire included songs by Brust, Bull, and the noted SF and fantasy writer John M. Ford. They enjoyed the distinction of being described by X-Men member Kitty Pryde as her favorite musical group. Brust has also released a solo album, A Rose for Iconoclastes (1993), consisting primarily of his own songs sung and accompanied by himself on banjo and guitar.

Steven Brust lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the fall of 2013, Tor will publish The Incrementalists, a contemporary fantasy novel written in collaboration with Skyler White.

Wikipedia | Goodreads

 

Photo of Steven Brust by Kyle Cassidy, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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