sadScience fiction and fantasy Grandmaster Jack Vance has died.
Jack Vance Dies at age 96
Jack Vance is/was one of my favourite sf and fantasy writers of all time. His impact on science fiction can't be overestimated. Vance's Dying Earth series alone would be enough to make him one of the genre's most important figures, but he also gave us the Demon Princes series and several others, and he helped revitalize the planetary romance genre with Big Planet. For me, one of my favourite novels was The Languages of Pao, a brilliant look at the Sapir-Worf Hypothesis and how language can be used to manipulate people - in this case, how changing people's language can make them more war-like.
Rest In Peace, Jack Vance. The Overworld has gained a new traveller, and the Deodands are weeping. Thanks for such fabulous, and strange sweeps of both past and future history. You'll be sorely missed.
