Science Fiction has lost another great author. Tanith Lee, author of The Silver Metal Lover and Tales from the Flat Earth series passed away at the age of 67. She had a long writing career that started in 1971 when Macmillan published her first novel, The Dragon Hoard, and continued through over 90 novels and 300 short stories.
She was a dyslexic that couldn’t read until the age of 8 when her father took it upon himself to teach her and from there her love of the written language exploded.
Lee was the first woman to win the British Fantasy award in 1980 for her novel Death’s Master, the second in the Tales from the Flat Earth series. In 1983 and 1984 Tanith Lee received World Fantasy Awards for Best Short Story. In 2013 and 2015 she was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the World Fantasy Convention and the Horror Writers Association.
She was also known for writing poetry, for BBC Radio plays and two episodes of the BBC’s sci-fi television series Blake’s 7.
Tanith Lee never stopped writing. In an interview with SF Magazine Locus she stated, ““If anyone ever wonders why there’s nothing coming from me, it’s not my fault. I’m doing the work. No, I haven’t deteriorated or gone insane. Suddenly, I just can’t get anything into print”
Ms.Lee’s website gives little on her passing, simply displaying the dates of her birth and death and a fitting quote;
“Though we come and go, and pass into the shadows, where we leave behind us stories told – on paper, on the wings of butterflies, on the wind, on the hearts of others – there we are remembered, there we work magic and great change – passing on the fire like a torch – forever and forever. Till the sky falls, and all things are flawless and need no words at all.”
She leaves behind a husband, John Kaiine who himself is an artist and writer.
Another great author has passed.
Maybe Tanith Lee and Terry Pratchett can pay a ghostly visit to a budding author and bestow their skills and wisdom upon them.
