Author Carol Emshwiller, whom Ursula Le Guin once called "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of the strongest, most complex, most consistently feminist voices in fiction," died February 2. She was 97.
Science Fiction Writers Association president Cat Rambo called Emshwiller "one of the greats of short story writing, right up there with Grace Paley, James Tiptree Jr., Ursula K. Le Guin, and R.A. Lafferty, and she pushed its edges in order to do amazing, delightful, and illuminating things–-just as she did with her longer work. As a short story lover, I am gutted by this loss to the writing community and plan to spend part of today re-reading Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories, with its beautifully incisive and unflinching stories."
Emshwiller's short fiction has been collected in the two-volume series, The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller. Her 1991 collection, The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories, won the World Fantasy Award, and in 2005, the World Fantasy Con presented her with a lifetime achievement award. She was nominated for the Nebula Award four times, winning in the short story category twice--in 2003 for her story "Creature" and in 2006 for "I Live with You." Her novels include Carmen Dog, Mister Boots, The Secret City, and the Philip K. Dick Award-winning The Mount.
In a tribute, Tachyon Publications said, "All of us at Tachyon are saddened by the news of the influential Carol Emshwiller's death.... [She] played a prominent role in science fiction's new-wave movement."
Cory Doctorow wrote: "Emshwiller has been publishing since 1955, and while she is best known for her fantasy and science fiction, my favorite work of hers is the superb and moving western Ledoyt, published in 1995.... I never met Carol Emshwiller, but her work stayed with me for decades, and I'm glad she lived such a long and productive life."