William Tenn Passes Away

[filkertom]

Sadness, as we have lost one of the family. Philip Klass, who wrote satirical SF under the pen name William Tenn for longer than most of us have been alive, has passed away at the age of 89. Condolences to his family and friends, and I'm sure the folks at Callahan's will hoist more than one for him. Thanks to hughcasey for the heads-up.

Comments

[alverant.livejournal.com]

That's sad news. I read one or two of Callahan's books years ago. He will be missed. It's hard to find books like that these days.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem to have registered with the Callahan site yet, and it lists actually that Jeanne Robinson is fighting a harsh strain of cancer!

And I must confess I don't recall hearing of Mr. Tenn/Klass before (tho maybe I read a story of his somewhere and just don't remember now), and I don't understand what connection he has to Spider Robinson's books. Can someone elaborate please?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

No particular relationship, except the writing of whimsical tales, and many of the Callahanians are fond of the old-timers of SF.

[fmh.livejournal.com]

Damn. That's a loss, I liked his stuff.

[jeffr23.livejournal.com]

His most well-known work was probably the short story "The Liberation of Earth", which ought to be read by everyone.

[sazettel.livejournal.com]

I met the man several times. He was a magnificent and cantankerous old so-and-so. Gave the best Nebula speech EVER in Pittsburgh, starting with his take on the essential nature of Science Fiction. Tim and I still quote him.

"The essential nature of science fiction," said Phil. "Is quarrelsome."

I will miss him.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Did you catch that Kage Baker died last week as well? I was stunned.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

How odd. The Wikipedia entry on Philip Klass doesn't mention William Tenn at ALL, but the William Tenn entry mentions Klass right away.

Going to have to see about that.

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

"I knew him, Horatio. He was a fellow of infinite jest ..."

I am so sorry to hear this news. I had the near-impossibly rare privilege to take a "Survey of Science Fiction" class from William Tenn (Philip Klass) at Stanford in the summer of 1972. He was a delightful lecturer in his own right, and brought in four of his professional friends to regale the class with writers' anecdotes from the '40s, '50s, and the John W. Campbell era of Astounding Stories: Theodore Sturgeon, Poul and Karen Anderson, and Curt Siodmak. (Somewhere I still have a reel of tape recorded during their panel on John W. Campbell, who had died the previous year.)

He used the newly published paperback edition of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame as the main text, and looked much the same as he is pictured on the new "unexpurgated" anthology.

Of all the alien-invasion scenarios that have been made into movies, I'm still waiting to see anyone take on "The Liberation of Earth" -- his scathing indictment of the proxy wars that went on throughout the entire Cold War era.

Thank you for this touchstone to one of the cherished parts of my education.