Obscure but important science-fiction writer has died. by Dan Clore
(libertarian)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
RIP: Barrington J. Bayley (1937-2008)
by Dan Clore
Obscure British science fiction writer (his first publication in America was a story in the Judith Merrill anthology England Swings SF) Barrington J. Bayley has passed away.
While Bayley's work never enjoyed wide popularity, his fellow writers have recognized its merit. Michael Moorcock, for example, considered him "the most original writer of his generation".
William Burroughs borrowed the concept of deadliners from Bayley's novel The Star Virus.
The editors of Semiotext(e) SF, perhaps the greatest original SF anthology ever published, chose Bayley's "Cling to the Curvature" as the closing story.
Bayley's novel Annihilation Factor has special interest to libertarians, as the character Castor Krakhno is based on the historical Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno.
Among this obscure author's works, many single out his novel The Zen Gun as a masterpiece.
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