Category: Steampunk Authors

Steven Utley, 1948 – 2013

Another early Steampunk writer has left us. Steven Utley passed away from stage four cancer on January 12.

Utley was not as well known as some authors, in part because he focused on short stories and poems, rather than novels. In a world where all too many readers measure the appeal of a book by its length, short story authors can go unnoticed, which is certainly a crime.

As far as his contributions to Steampunk, there are two works (co-written with Howard Waldrop) that are often cited:

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Harry Harrison, 1925 – 2012

Science fiction author Harry Harrison has passed away. No details have been released, but they are rarely important.

A lot of you may not know Harry Harrison’s work, which is unfortunate. While he did have a couple of novels in the last decade, most of his work is older than that, with his career spanning over fifty years. He is best remembered by science fiction fans for his Stainless Steel Rat series, a collection of novels and stories chronicling the far future adventures of “Slippery Jim” DiGriz, a criminal turned government agent. They are great fun and I recommend them. In popular culture, his most notorious contribution is a little book called Make Room, Make Room that many will know better for the film it inspired: Soylent Green.

All good, but not why I mention his passing here.

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