The Sci-Fi Author (And illustrator) Greg Bear (Gregory Dale Bear) has passed away, after a period on life support. After heart surgery last week he never awoke, after a stroke caused by blood clots that had been retained from an earlier surgery. He passed away peacefully as per his own wishes when the ventilator was removed.
Astrid Bear
And now he is gone. After the ventilator was removed, he had stable breathing for about two hours, and then there began to be pauses between the breaths, pauses that grew longer and longer. He died peacefully this afternoon. He was not alone.
Rest in peace, my beloved.
Greg Bear
8/20/1951–11/19/2022
His work
Greg Bear was a five-time Nebula award-winning author (2 novels and 3 short stories) and had won 2 Hugos. He had written over 50 books and many short stories since his first short story, “Destroyers” was sold to Famous Science Fiction at 15. Translated into 19 languages, he was the winner of the Seiun Award twice in Japan, the Ignotus Award in Spain and the Prix Apollo in France.
Of his many works, I read several, including Eon, the short story Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio (and the sequel, Darwin’s Children), The Forge of God (and it’s sequel Anvil of Stars) and War Dogs.
Greg published the Mongoliad books 1, 2 and 3 (based on an experimental serial he had contributed to alongside authors such as Neal Stephenson and referred to as The Foreworld Saga). He also wrote novels set in the Halo (The Forerunner Saga) and Star Wars universes. In the 1990s, he wrote one of a trilogy of prequels to Asimov’s Foundation books alongside Gregory Benford and David Brin.
Affiliations
One of the founding members of the Association of Science Fiction artists, Greg had published artwork including covers for Galaxy and F&SF magazines. He was a founding member of San Diego Comic-Con, and served as the President of the SFWA from 1988 to 1990. Greg was a member of the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction. When asked, Greg cited Ray Bradbury as the most influential writer in his life – he had regularly corresponded with the writer from meeting him in 1967 until his death in 2012.
His family
Greg Bear leaves his second wife, Astrid (daughter of the SciFi and Fantasy authors Poul and Karen Anderson), and 2 daughters, Chloe and Alexandra.
We at Geek Pride wish to offer our condolences and thank Greg for the endless hours of thought-provoking entertainment he has provided SF and Fantasy fans across the world.
