RIP John Christopher (Samuel Youd)... Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Edit Profile

RAMSEY CAMPBELL » Discussion » RIP John Christopher (Samuel Youd) « Previous Next »

Author Message
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 04:30 pm:   

Dear Lord! I only just found out that John Christopher died on 3rd February this year at the age of 89!

An incalculable loss to genre fiction just when the unflinching prescience of his early apocalyptic sci-fi novels has never been more relevant or terrifyingly convincing.

I grew up reading this man with 'The Tripods' series and still rank it as one of the finest, most intellectually thrilling and influential works of my lifetime but it was only last year when I finally got round to reading his adult masterpiece, 'The Death Of Grass' (1956), that the full import of the man's place in the development of science fiction literature became apparent. I'm currently half-way through its follow-up, 'The World In Winter' (1962), and its power to thrill and disturb and make one despair of the human race is just as potent. I'd say it would have taken a Jewish writer in the immediate post-war years to be as brutally frank about what we are capable of as Christopher was. The rage in those early novels and immensity of their tragedy still reverbates to this day... and will continue to do so as long as our precarious hold on this fragile planet continues.

RIP to one of the greats.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 10:32 pm:   

Oh, Stevie, I thought you knew!

It was the reports around his death that led me to read THE DEATH OF GRASS, which is every bit a masterpiece.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 02:12 am:   

I had no idea, John.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.45.250
Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 07:22 am:   

It's a sad loss indeed. I remember my father bringing the Tripod books home from school, where he taught them as part of the English curriculum, and reading them to us (my brother and sister and me) way back in the seventies.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.18.83
Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 09:15 am:   

Indeed, alas.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Steve Bacon (Stevebacon)
Username: Stevebacon

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 90.208.112.204
Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 10:49 am:   

I picked up The Death of Grass only this week from my local second-hand book shop. I shall read it soon, and think of him.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.40.254.58
Posted on Monday, April 30, 2012 - 07:28 am:   

No, I didn't hear of this till quite a while afterwards. Seemed like a nice guy, from reports by those who knew or interviewed him. Wrote under a few names, didn't he? Not all SF. Death of Grass is a class act. Salutations and farewell.

Add Your Message Here
Post:
Bold text Italics Underline Create a hyperlink Insert a clipart image

Username: Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action:

Topics | Last Day | Last Week | Tree View | Search | Help/Instructions | Program Credits Administration