Michael Bishop
Great Writer and Person…
Michael Bishop left us today. It was no surprise since he had been in hospice care since June.
I was in the process of writing a blog on writing in many genres, but that can wait. I felt it important to note Michael’s passing. Not a close friend, but a friend of almost 40 years. We worked together on a few projects at Pulphouse Publishing in the late 1980s including a volume of Author’s Choice Monthly. He was one of Kris’s instructors at Clarion, so I knew him that way as well.
And, of course, over the years, we had numbers of dinners together. Always fun.
And I knew him through his wonderful stories. He sold his first short story four years before I did in 1970. I was always a fan of his work and felt lucky to work with him a few times.
And as many have said, he might have been the nicest and most giving man in all of sf.
A great writer and great person has left us. Thanks, Michael, for all the wonderful stories.
One Comment
James Palmer
I met Michael when he was the author in residence at North Georgia College. I worked on the school paper, and as the paper’s resident (read only) science fiction fan, it was naturally assumed that I would interview him. Which I did. He signed some paperbacks I had brought along, and was very kind and gracious. He did one talk on fiction and one on poetry, and I attended both.
I saw him again many years later at a literary event in the same town, and he not only remembered me, but gave me an open invitation to come down to Pine Mountain and use his season pass for Callaway Gardens (he loved the butterfly enclosure), but alas, I never did. And now he’s gone.
But I echo this notion that he was the most kind and giving man in all of SF. And he will be missed.
I am going to reread Brittle Innings in his memory.