Ursula K. LeGuin, 88 years of genius. RIP

[brian 333]

It was the middle of the 70's and I had stolen my older brother's copy of The Hobbit. He caught me somewhere around Laketown, and I was ready for a beatdown such as older brothers are wont to give to younger brothers who take their stuff.

But he surprised me by giving me a thin paperback book, saying, "This is better."

It was A Wizard Of Earthsea.

I fell in love with a woman who was three times my age, whom I had never met, and who set me on a road of discovery I have yet to complete. She packed a world every bit as rich as Tolkien's in an 88 page novella.

Over the years since I have not stopped reading her work, and I have never been disappointed. The story of Earthsea came back to me just a few years ago in her next saga, when the aged wizard and the priestess from the Tombs of Atuan finally hooked up, just in time to meet the creator of the world.

She has influenced my writing; she is the standard by which I judge my work, (which is kind of like comparing my whittling to Rodin's sculpture.) She opened the door to her world, and I walked in wide-eyed and awestruck. She was a god among mortals, but in the end she was all too human.

The world of fantasy will never be the same. I'm going to miss her.

You never knew me, Ursula, but I loved you, and I'll never forget.

[The Fury]

It sounds trite for me to say she was ahead of her time, but it's true. As much as modern fantasy writers seem to stick to the Tolkien-inspired settings even today, Earthsea stands out all the more for trying something different. And she started it when Tolkien was still alive!

The Left Hand of Darkness is still one of my all time favorite SF titles, and I was lucky enough that I got to tell her so in person. I had a chance to see her read some of her short fiction, and even did a little Q and A. She was awesome, and it was strangely magical to see all these people from late teens to early forties that had grown up reading her stories. In particular, I remember this one young woman that told LeGuin about dressing up as a Catwing for Halloween when she was a little girl. She seemed to get a kick out of that.

[BWR]

She really was an amazing author. To try to find a happy thought in all this, it is an excellent excuse to set aside de Sade's Justine to read some good stuff instead.

[Spanish_Paladin]

My favorite scifi writer with Asimov. All her tales are amazing but the Dispossesed and four ways to forgiveness reached my heart.

[Lacuna Caster]

The Earthsea series might be my favourite work of fantasy fiction. I'm glad she lived to a ripe old age, though I'll be sorry not to see more worlds issuing from her brain.

Only in silence the Word,
Only in dark the Light,
Only in dying, Life.
Bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky.

[emduck]

For a word to be spoken, there must be silence. Before and after.

:smallfrown:

[Ibrinar]

Ah I only read her earthsea books I think but they were great, reading more from here was on my list for a long time. Always sad to see good authors go, they are irreplaceable though at least it was after a long life this time.

[Ancient]

Wow, one of the greats, RIP and go gently into the night.

[veti]

For a word to be spoken, there must be silence. Before and after.

... says someone who has never heard the word "soundtrack"... (I'm sorry, I'm not trying to argue. Just that the modern world's war on silence has really been getting me down, this century.)

LeGuin had a gift for packaging wisdom in a form that could easily be appreciated even by teenagers. It's a rare and great gift. (Pratchett shared it to some extent. Rowling - not so much.) Since I was a teenager when I first discovered her, she made a lasting impression.

[Dacia Brabant]

She truly was amazing. A Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas have always stuck with me, and The Lathe of Heaven introduced me to Taoism, which was life changing. I can only hope to become half the writer she was. RIP.