Steven Utley, whom Gardner Dozois once called “the most underrated science fiction writers alive,” passed away January 12. Utley announced two weeks ago he’d been diagnosed with Type 4 cancer, present throughout his body.
In the 1970s he was part of the Austin, TX writing group frequented by Lisa Tuttle, Howard Waldrop and Bruce Sterling which later took the name of Turkey City Writer’s Workshop. His first pro story, “The Unkindest Cut of All,” appeared in 1972. He and Waldrop coauthored the popular “Custer’s Last Jump,” a Nebula Award finalist published in 1976.
Several of Utley’s “Silurian Tales” made it into Gardner Dozois’ Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies or Year’s Best SF edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. Australian-based Ticonderoga Publications has gathered these stories into two volumes — The 400-Million-Year Itch appeared in 2012 and Invisible Kingdoms is coming in 2013.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]
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This is awful. He was a hell of a writer, and handsome in his youth — he was the first (and ultimately only) foldout for the late Tom Reamy’s slick-paper fanzine Nickelodeon.
I think there was one other foldout. This idea was something of a joke, and it was kind of underwhelming.
Got that PS collection of his last year. And yes, good stuff.
The first story of his I read was “Hung like an Elephant”, which David Gerrold is responsible for purchasing. (ALTERNITIES 1974)…