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Updated, 20 Jan, 4:00 AM, to add: I wrote this on the evening of Tuesday, January 19, but held off actually posting it because (as of then, and to the best of my knowledge, as of now) David has not yet actually died. Because of a misunderstanding, for which the fault is mine, another Making Light front-pager pulled the “publish” trigger on this while I slept. Kathryn Cramer has posted to the comments: “His heart is still beating, but he is being assessed for brain death. Whatever the assessment, he has had a massive brain bleed, which continues. He will not survive. He has not been breathing on his own since the EMTs arrived at the orchard house late this afternoon.” I apologize to Kathryn and to everyone who took my post as informed confirmation. I’m now putting the post back up, and I’ll amend this update as events warrant. —PNH
Updated, 20 Jan, 11:00 PM: For the elimination of doubt: David is gone.
Updated, 21 Jan, 8:00 AM: Kathryn Cramer’s post is here.
Updated, 21 Jan, 9:30 PM: One more post from Kathryn, and totally worth your time.
To call our relationship “complicated” is to understate the case. We were friends. We were also editors working the same patch—him older and more eminent, me younger and more energetic. (“Younger and more energetic”, those were the days.) Back in the impossibly-long-ago mid-to-late ’80s, Teresa and I worked on his poetry magazine, and we helped dream up his journal of SF criticism and quit it three issues after. (I named it and designed the masthead.) He declined to hire me as his assistant at Arbor House, saying that Terry Carr had told him “Don’t hire that guy, he’ll just get promoted in six months and you’ll need an assistant again.” Thanks, Terry. In a more recent century, he and I co-edited a pretty good reprint anthology.
Teresa and I first got to know him in the early 1980s, when he was attending tons of conventions on the Timescape / Simon & Schuster dime. When our friend-in-fandom Paul Williams sat us down in Seattle and explained to us how we needed to work in SF publishing—and how to do that—, step one was that I should wind up at the 1983 ABA (the thing now called BEA) in Dallas. Which I did, crashing on David’s floor, spending days in the crush meeting publishing folks. Evenings, I hung back and watched as David and Paul invented the Philip K. Dick Society and planned Dick’s wildly successful posthumous Hollywood career. All of which came to pass. Clearly here was a magician, albeit a crafty, subtle, and not always trustworthy one. Like all the best.
Over the years at Tor we had occasions to want to drop-kick him out a 14th floor window—and occasions to be gobsmacked by his utter brilliance. He was a true believer in the intellectual and emotional power of fantasy and science fiction. He was our field’s most consequential editor since John W. Campbell.
He is gone. It’s like a mountain range is gone, or nitrogen, or a verb tense. We can’t believe it. David. Goodbye.
Updated, 20 Jan, middayish East Coast time:
Thank you, Jo, for this lovely tribute in the comments. — Abi
Like nitrogen, supporting every breath
Always been there, it seems you always will
So vital, so involved, that is until
A moment brings inevitable death.
I know death finds us all, but you? But why?
You, in the midst of life, one moment there
Then dying flesh, and then an empty chair,
I can’t believe it doesn’t shake the sky.
Your life is over, not complete, feels wrong
To say “he was” and never “he will be”
When you were there like axioms so long.
What’s left is all you did and made, and we
So shaken at the gap where you belong
Counting your loss against eternity.
He bought my first novel, and many of those that followed. He was my editor and my friend. I can't believe he's gone.
I've known David for decades ... and I am ... words fail me.
He was one of the true giants of the field. Ian Ballantine, Terry Carr, John W. Campbell -- there's a short list, and he belongs on it. I'm crying. And I won't get to give him that tie I found last month....
Well shit.
I'm sorry. All condolence, I know how hard it is when complicated relationships end like this.
Tom, you'll just have to wear it yourself, in his honor.
Damnitdamnit.
I'm stunned and sad. I've known him a very long time and hoped he'd be around far longer.
FUCK!
We need to reset. The 21st century has sucked, and the 16th/17th year has sucked worse.
I'm deeply sorry. I talked to him three times, all were wonderful.
I'll be wearing a hideous tie for the next year. Because.
I'm so sorry. *puts on the kettle for you all*
I talked with him a few years back when he was in Montreal for ConCeption. Very nice man; I think I still have his business card.
Fuck mortality.
So, so sorry to hear about this. RIP, David.
Well, crap, double-crap, quadruple crap, 2^manymanymany crap.
And I would have to agree with Tom@4.
He edited some books that mean the world to me.
You know, I can go in to the other room right now and look at a shelf full of his "Year's Best SF" anthologies. I've been picking those up for years - I grew to trust his taste, and I always knew I'd find pieces I enjoyed. In one of those, he introduced me to one of my favorite authors' work.
Crap.
I want to add that he helped inspire me and a small group of friends to create Fourth Street Fantasy Convention. He did this in two contradictory ways: first, because there were things about World Fantasy Convention that annoyed us so much we felt we needed to create an antidote. Second, because as we started doing so, he was extremely helpful every time we talked to him, and was absolutely brilliant when he was there ("Questions David Hartwell has always wanted to ask Gene Wolfe and John Crowly" remains one of the best panels I've ever had the privilege to attend).
Point is, this contradiction perfectly captures the nature of my relationship with him. I"m going to miss him. I'm sorry he's gone. I'm glad we have everything he contributed to field.
Lizzy @6 -- Maybe we all can wear ties for him in KC.
Well, shit. I've largely drifted away from the community over the past few years; dropped FB friends, disappeared from some online hangouts, stopped going to cons. But one of the things I knew I was missing was the great chats he and I would have, in the dealers room, at a dinner table, at a party, or even in an elevator. And now I will always miss those chats.
This is one of those times where I think "Damn, I wish I knew him." And then I learn more of his professional history, and I look at my bookshelf, and I think "Damn, I REALLY wish I knew him."
So sorry for your loss, Patrick, everyone.
This is unimaginable. I don't even know how to talk about him in the past tense. He really got SF, the heart of it, in a very pure and straightforward way.
My heartfelt condolences and best wishes to everyone at Tor. I'd suggest draping the Flatiron in black crepe banners, but in his honor they should be hideous ties.
Oh.
Was it only a few months ago I wandered a Worldcon dealer's room with him?
Damn.
His heart is still beating, but he is being assessed for brain death. Whatever the assessment, he has had a massive brain bleed, which continues. He will nor survive. He has not been breathing on his own since the EMTs arrived at the orchard house late this afternon.
Oh my goodness. I had the most wonderful talk with him last year at ICFA, about being editors, about falling under the spell of a manuscript and a narrative voice. I always learned something from talking with him. The field has lost a giant.
Thanks for the update, Kathryn. Thinking of you.
Damn. This is a terrible loss, in a year too-full of them.
All best, Kathryn. I can't imagine how hard this is for you.
This is a great loss to our community, almost unbelievable.
The idea of David not being around anymore is hard to accept. He will be missed far and wide.
Gobsmacked, and so so sorry to hear this terrible loss. He bought my first novel, was a friend and good advisor, and had so much history packed into his head. (Now he'll never write that memoir.) This is really really bad news.
Condolences.
I only knew him by his work, but what I experienced was substantial.
Sorrow for your loss, for everyone's loss.
Here's to the contradictions, the brilliance, the eye-popping ties, and the magic.
Patrick and Teresa and all friends at Tor--I can't believe it. He was one of the greats of the field, and a good friend. The whole family, and later David and the kids, would come to stay with us in Maine, and we shared everything from lobster dinners to late-night conversations about the field and trips to yard sales. Hugs and sympathy to you all.--Sarah
I am so sorry to hear this. My sympathies to all who were close to him.
I'm so very sorry to hear this. I only just "met" David via telephone last spring when he called to tell me he'd accepted my book. He seemed like a kind, busy, brilliant man, and I wish we could have met in person. My condolences to all who knew him.
This is terrible news.
I talked to him several times at various Readercons, and never failed to learn something from him at each encounter. My lasting impression of him was that he was always cheerful and always gentlemanly.
Kathryn Cramer, I'm sorry for your loss.
Kathryn—I've been in exactly that limbo with a husband who had a brain bleed, and it sucks. My condolences.
Everyone else: my condolences on your loss.
It seems beyond belief. I thought David would outlive us all. My condolences to Kathryn and the family, and to all his Tor family as well. A huge loss to the field. Respect.
It's unclear that there would have been a Readercon without David's early and unflagging support -- and this despite the fact that at the same time Bob Colby was inventing it, David was inventing Sercon along very similar lines. A lesser soul would have viewed us a rival.
This is heartbreaking news. It's unimaginable that we'll never have another conversation. My heart goes out Kathryn and the rest of his family.
I know I've seen him at cons, but I don't believe I ever spoke to him. My condolences on your loss; may he be remembered well.
"Clearly here was a magician, albeit a crafty, subtle, and not always trustworthy one. Like all the best." Exactly.
I only knew Hartwell from convention appearances. I recall him reading, likely at an I-Con, about the friendship between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. It impressed me, and may even still have the newsletter it appeared in.
RIP.
As Eric made clear, David's support for our fledgling con was beyond crucial. It's as hard to imagine its history without him as it is to imagine what the field will be like going forward.
As one of the principals in an early Sercon: David was an essential part of what we did. I could tell stories: we forgot to leave room for bathroom breaks in the program, and got hell because nobody wanted to miss a word. He was the ultimate sercon fan: he could always be excited about a Serious Constructive discussion about SF. And he recognized the value in people who cared about SF, on whatever level. We built the program at Sercon 2 thinking about how he'd approach what we were doing; and having Chip Delany there to pull the program together was exactly what he'd want.
I'm pretty solidly in the second rank of people who know about SF book collecting. David was in the first rank.
Oh hell. I can't believe it. All these years as we all got older and less firm, I just assumed David would always be there. I suppose I didn't *really* think so, of course, but of all of people I've known and worked with and argued with and talked with late into many an evening, David was the one I refused to imagine leaving the scene. I ... I don't know exactly, but this is going to be hard to take.
In the meantime, this was a very fine take on the man. Thanks for that.
David was one of my most favorite people in the Universe. I'll miss him. My condolences to Kathryn.
David tended to the science fiction field as if it were a garden under his care. Books, magazines, conventions, whole careers, entire national and transnational SF communities (seriously!) flourished with his timely assistance, his generous encouragement and consideration.
Our world spins off center tonight; a huge chunk of it has just lifted off and away into space...
Condolences to Kathryn and the kids, and to all his friends and colleagues.
I've known David for nearly 40 years, and he has always surprised and amused me. He cared deeply about his friends, and he cared deeply about science fiction. I'll miss him a lot. My condolences to Kathryn and all his children, and to all the rest of us.
I'm so sorry for your loss, both personally and professionally. My condolences to his family and friends.
I met David at my very first convention nearly 40 years ago. An SF community without him in it is just wrong.
I can’t recall how long ago I saw him last. Months, probably, but it might have been years.
David was one of those guys who, whenever you were talking about the SFF publishing field, he’d always have some interesting anecdote about legendary figures. I feel like the field has lost a chunk of its memory.
I'm so sorry for not getting in touch, not staying in touch, losing touch. I'm so sorry for the loss. Though, oddly, and I hope people understand what I am trying to mean, I still feel a sense of wonder about him, about his having been, about what he will always mean to me and to the field he lived so close to the heart of all these years.
Many other people will praise David for his professional achievements. rightly so.
But I recall David the fan, the guy who would introduce people to one another with courtesy and curiosity,who always knew where the good parties were.
I think we need to do a old fashioned fannish wake. We'll all wear eye-blinding shirts and ties, share gossip and stories, and, at the end of the night, we'll all stand up to sing 'Teen Angel' together one more time.
Love & Light, Comfort & Solace to his family, his friends, colleagues, may we all remember the best of times with him.
Parris
I don't really do the convention or publishing thing, but my heart goes out to everyone that knew him. My condolences.
Also? 2016 is fuckin' fired.
This. And 2015 too. The whole damn last year. We lost Nimoy and Pratchett and Lemmy and Bowie and Rickman and Frey and now Hartwell... I think we should fire 2017 too, just to be on the safe side! Damn. Just damn.
He was my friend and mentor for about 40 years. He was responsible for the second half of my career. He was the model of expertise and enthusiasm I sought to emulate. Our genres, and our community, have lost a giant we cannot replace.
I don't have the words. I just don't have the words.
Goddamn, this hurts.
Very sad news, I cannot imagine how hard that will be for those very close to him and my sympathies to you, and his dear beautiful family.
I was looking forward to doing lunch with him next month, to exchange gossip and discuss the trilogy I'm working on with him. I've only known him for 15 years -- and had him as editor for 9 books.
Feeling dazed, want January to just stop and go away. (Even worse news for Kathryn right now.)
I am truly at a loss for words. My thoughts go out to those close to him. A great man. He will be missed...
Having caught up on other comments: Kathryn, my heart goes out to you and you're in my thoughts right now.
Very sad news to wake up to. David's been exceptionally influential in many ways. He was probably the first editor I got to know over 35 years ago.
A towering influence on the field and a friend of many years. As they seem to do everyone else, words fail me. My warmest thoughts to Kathryn and the children.
Although I know I often exasperated David by my contrary views about the nature of fantasy, my respect for him and his life-long devotion to our field is enormous. I cannot imagine sf & fantasy without him, and I'm heart-sick at hearing this news.
David has been my friend for many years. Lately, he's also been my editor. And to wake up this morning to find that, all at once, he's gone, is...
I don't know what to say. Words aren't enough.
I had much less interaction with David than I would have liked. That's probably true for most of us in the field. And the conversations and correspondences I had with him were almost all about connecting more good people to good books and stories. I think that was typical as well. SF has lost one of its core; condolences to everyone who knew him better than I did and especially to the family he was so obviously devoted to.
This is very sad. He was very sweet. :(
When I was a lot younger I met a Tor editor on a train, who hired me to come and work for him and David, and that's how I met a lot of you, though it wasn't my only vector.
A bunch of my friends worked on NYRSF, and I somehow never managed to get pulled in. Instead I knew David in the office, and from running into him at Dar Williams concerts in the park, and on the train in England with his family, which I think is probably the last time we spent real time together, back in the summer of 2014.
He was one of my first bosses as an adult, and I have Jim Minz to thank for that. It was a lovely, energetic, supportive office, and he was a fascinating person to know. I'm pretty gutted right now. He had so much more to -do-.
My deepest condolences to Kathryn Cramer and their kids.
I wasn't in contact with David for a while, but I will always owe him for giving me the opportunity to translate two articles for NYRSF, about a decade ago, which years later helped me decide to try translating professionally. It was a privilege to know him and my heart goes out to his family.
Horribly sad. I never worked with David, but I knew him and how much he cared for and contributed to the field. The last time I talked with him was over dinner with friends a Readercon or two ago; I had hoped to have more such conversations.
Have been friends with David for decades. The times I've journeyed up to NYC in the company of Michael Swanwick, we always stopped into his office at Tor, and the conversation was worth the trip.
I can only say how much it pains me to hear of this.
-gf
I ran across David (and his boldly colored ties) at various conventions in Canada since 2003. Always good natured and encouraging for new writers in the field.
Last time I met him was at Ad Astra in Toronto. My sympathies to his family.
I ran across David (and his boldly colored ties) at various conventions in Canada since 2003. Always good natured and encouraging for new writers in the field.
Last time I met him was at Ad Astra in Toronto. My sympathies to his family.
I ran across David (and his boldly colored ties) at various conventions in Canada. Always good natured and encouraging for new writers in the field.
Last time I met him was at Ad Astra in Toronto. My sympathies to his family.
Please remove the previous double repetition. Typing /comments error. Thanks.
Mr. Hartwell was the first editor I met back when I was a fresh wannabe. I remember when I mentioned wanting to write his reaction was to instantly take me seriously and offer encouragement and advice. He remembered me the next time we met a year later. I think I still have the energy from those meetings so long ago. Thank you, Mr. Hartwell. Thank you for that and the great fiction you brought to us.
Oh, gosh I am so very sorry. What a heartbreaking loss to Tor, and to his family.
So saddened to hear this news. He was my first publisher, welcoming me (and anyone who wanted in, age or experience no matter) into this world of SF and fantasy with kindness, encouragement, and crazy ties, and circulating the party room, camera and wine in hand, connecting people and histories with stories and introductions and more stories. I always owed him another article. I think we all did. A terrible, terrible loss.
Meeting David at Clarion West 1990 was a critical boost to my then-nascent career as an author. I give details in my Afterword to Santa Steps Out. Such brilliance and generosity. I am stunned and I send out deep condolences to all of his loved ones and to all of us who mourn his passing.
Awful. No coherent words, just memories of good times and what a boost it was when David smiled on one of my stories.
He published me, and taught me a lot. He was the soul and memory of the whole science fiction genre. All of us are poorer now.
Oh, no. I've always looked forward to chatting with him at whatever con we both happened to be at. He had so many fascinating things to say.
My deepest condolences to Kathryn and to everyone at Tor.
When I was about twelve, I borrowed the World Treasury of Science Fiction he'd edited from the middle school library. It was my first time reading Ballard, Bester, Vonnegut, Dick, Lem, Varley, and more. Some of the stories were scary in a way I'd never seen before. It was my first time reading SF in translation. To this day, the cover, the spine, and the table of contents -- the specific typefaces -- bring me back to that big heavy book, reading it in a seat on the bus in front of that school within eyesight of the portable classrooms, reading it on a little light-blue-carpeted staircase at my parents' friends' house, feeling my mind blown.
My thanks to him for editing that. My condolences to all who knew him.
I didn't finish reading that anthology back then; there were stories I couldn't understand, stories I skipped. This year I'd like to go back and read the whole thing.
I had the great fortune to (briefly) meet David and speak with him a bit at the Nebula Awards a couple of years ago. He was very encouraging and kind. I learned much just watching his panels.
My heart goes out to his family and friends.
I had the great fortune to (briefly) meet David and speak with him a bit at the Nebula Awards a couple of years ago. He was very encouraging and kind. I learned much just watching his panels.
My heart goes out to his family and friends.
Apologies for the double-post; if a moderator would kill it (and this one), I'd appreciate it. Stupid internet.
#52 Parris
And start at the top of the hotel, going down floor by floor listening for noise in rooms, and knock on doors to find out if there's a party inside (memory from 1989, Noreascon III)
He was the one who told me that Tess of the D'Ubervilles and A Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man were parodies. He told me that the only "clean" manuscripts he'd had, which his editing consisted of not changing a word or any punctuation, were Gene Wolfe's. He deeply, passionately care about the field and the community--the literature, and the people both.
Damn. I've known David for a long time, and his presence at our local conference (Confluence) was always a bright spot. I'll miss his tables of always-interesting finds in the dealers' room, and I'll miss our conversations over them.
My sympathies to Kathryn, the kids, the SF community, and everyone who knew, loved, and respected him. Goodbye, David. We'll miss you.
I appreciated his astute understanding of publishing and his willingness to buy speculative poetry for sale a conventions, knowing full well that they were a hard sell.
Like nitrogen, supporting every breath
Always been there, it seems you always will
So vital, so involved, that is until
A moment brings inevitable death.
I know death finds us all, but you? But why?
You, in the midst of life, one moment there
Then dying flesh, and then an empty chair,
I can't believe it doesn't shake the sky.
Your life is over, not complete, feels wrong
To say "he was" and never "he will be"
When you were there like axioms so long.
What's left is all you did and made, and we
So shaken at the gap where you belong
Counting your loss against eternity.
Jo, that's lovely. I've pulled it onto the front page.
(And I've been away from the keyboard all day, but I too send my condolences to David's family, friends, and colleagues. I didn't know him personally, but I knew him by his impact on my friends and our world. He will be missed.)
Third the return of 2016 for a better version.
And all my sympathy to Kathryn.
(This is how my father went, including the waiting.)
It's been a little over five years since I first met David. Talking to him was a highlight at the worldcons I've attended. He was a gentleman in the best sense of the word. That he is vanishing from the world too soon is a tragedy.
My condolences to Kathryn and to all who worked closely with him.
Laus patrum laudemus viros gloriosos et parentes nostros in generatione sua.
Oh, no. That's pretty much all that's coming out of my mouth right now.
I never got to know him, neither personally nor professionally, but he was such a fixture on the landscape of my con-going experience.
Jo, that's a lovely, heartbreaking poem.
He was among my first friends in the publishing world, one of my Clarion West instructors, and a giant in the field. He will be greatly missed.
I commented to Mom this morning, talking about this news, that each time I got to listen in or take part in a conversation he was involved in, I came away with a reading list. That's some of the best praise there is.
Just turned on my computer, and I'm totally stunned. I knew David for many decades, going back to the dorm proctor and Little Magazine days, and of course, doing ALGOL/STARSHIP and then SF CHRONICLE, during those days.
Spent time at his house, watched him stand on his roof, envied his Richard Powers paintings, watched both sets of his kids grow up...
I personally and the SF field have lost a wonderful guy.
My condolences to his family and friends, and a different sort of condolence to those of you who were never fortunate to participate in one of David's freewheeling SFF conversations. Catching up with him has been one of the highlights of any con for me since I started going to cons.
Oh, no...
My condolences to all his loved ones and friends.
...today the road all runners come, and shoulder high we bring you home, and at your threshold set you down, townsman of a stiller town...
It is obvious from all that is written here that his memory is, and always will be, a blessing.
Heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and cohorts.
I didn't know him save through his work, the stories and pictures Kathryn shared, stories fellow fans shared, and the times I saw him participate in programming at cons. All invariably impressed me in some way or another.
News was like a punch to the gut this morning and I can only imagine how much worse it is for those who knew him.
It really is difficult to imagine the SF field & its fandom without him.
So very, very sad to hear this. All my love and sympathies to his friends and family. My bookshelves are far better -- and far bendier beneath -- his many treasured contributions.
The first time I met David Hartwell, I had a sole short publication to my name, but he still spent hours sharing stories with me as we packed books, laughing as we cracked jokes, and listening to my enthusiastic babble without ever once stooping to condescension. He offered insights that continue to serve me well, long after the fact.
The second time I met David Hartwell, I was fresh off the publication of "Absinthe Fish," and still reeling from the reviews (not only because some were good, but due to the fact that it received them in such prominent venues).
He asked what else was in my queue, and whether I was working on a novel. At the time, I wasn't, but I told him that I'd been toying with a few ideas.
"When you do," he said, "I want to see it."
It wasn't a formal manuscript request, or entree to Tor, or anything similar. It was simply an expression of faith that, based on the little he'd already seen, my hypothetical novel might be worth his time.
And now, as I learn to see the shape of each project more clearly, his insights and observations echo around me. Although nothing I previously wrote or edited wound up in his annual overview of the field, he read it all… and had he ever abandoned that prior assurance, he would not have continued to do so.
David, that "hypothetical" novel sprouted roots and shoots and fins and eyes and tails, but it's still a distance from completion.
I desperately wanted you to see it.
I can only hope it would have been worth your time.
I always wanted to know David better. He was an amazing source of information on many things. A couple of years ago in the dealer/huckster room at Confluence (the Pittsburgh area SF convention) I had a long discussion with him on music history because he was offering for sale some early issues of Paul Williams' seminal fanzine Crawdaddy, the very first rock music mag, predating Rolling Stone, to which David had been a countributor. I bought some of those issues and treasure them, and will so even more now. Deep condolences to Kathryn and to his children.
The science fiction field is poorer for his loss. May his memory be a blessing.
This is terrible news. I share the sense of being stunned by it expressed by many here. Please accept my condolences and heartfelt sympathy for Dave's many friends.
Requesting reboot for the last couple of years, please.
Condolences to Kathryn, family, friends.
Crap.
Would it be inappropriate to hope that David Hartwell might pull off one more miracle, and regain consciousness? "Where there's life there's hope," and I'm hoping for all I'm worth. David and I go (went?) back for a very long time. He was my friend as well as my editor. Most recently I'd been vetting bound mss. for him. This news is like being in the middle of an intense conversation with someone and having the line cut off in mid-sentence. Of course, Pat and I send deepest condolences to Kathryn and all the rest of David's family, both personal and professional.
Would it be inappropriate to hope that David Hartwell might pull off one more miracle, and regain consciousness? "Where there's life there's hope," and I'm hoping for all I'm worth. David and I go (went?) back for a very long time. He was my friend as well as my editor. Most recently I'd been vetting bound mss. for him. This news is like being in the middle of an intense conversation with someone and having the line cut off in mid-sentence. Of course, Pat and I send deepest condolences to Kathryn and all the rest of David's family, both personal and professional.
My deepest sympathies to Kathryn, especially, and condolences to all who knew him. May his memory be a blessing.
Like many, I knew him only through the fruits of his labor, and I hope the books he brought into being will serve as a fitting memorial to him.
David published my first novel in the late seventies and became my first friend in the field. His line editing has influenced everything I have written since. One of the main reasons I went to conventions was to see him there. I will always admire his sartorial gumption. I will miss him immensely, as will many, many others.
@34: "My lasting impression of him was that he was always cheerful and always gentlemanly."
Yes, exactly. Thank you for that.
David was unfailing kind too, which I noticed every time he sat down with me and everyone else.
This is a horrible day -- a terrible month. So many losses; so many bereaved. I am so sorry for everyone who knew David well, as well as for those of us who didn't get to. :(
Most sites (saving ML) are 404ing something terrible... I suspect that SF is flailing in shock _and_ waiting to revise.
I think I too will find a tie. There should be a giant flock of ties at cons this year... and every year.
My thoughts are with Kathryn and the children, and everyone else mourning.
@51: "Also? 2016 is fuckin' fired."
YES. =furiously writes out the pink slip=
This is such a shame. I never had any contact with him, but his influence is everywhere. My condolences to those who knew him.
Dick Lupoff @ 108-109: It is very appropriate. I hold that hope too, and will until there's word otherwise.
The first time I had an inkling of David's greatness was his Guest of Honor interview at the Worldcon in Montreal. I already knew David as an outstanding editor, writer, intellectual and organizer, as a longtime fan, and of course as an incredibly snappy dresser. Then in his "interview", instead of talking about himself he told us about his friend, Paul Williams, and what Paul means to fandom. It was an extraordinary and deeply moving tribute. I'd never seen anything like it. It would be a fine thing if we could find ways to follow his example. David had a deep love of fandom and a clear vision, and he acted on it. He was one of the people who, in his own way, held the world together.
I'm in shock. David dragged me to my first SF convention more than 40 years ago and has been a friend ever since. The field is unimaginable without him. My condolences to all his family.
Kathryn, so much condolence.
It's been a shitty time for loss, and the personal losses seem petty when dealing with someone else's personal loss (thank God for empathy).
It's the problem of tense. I can't really imagine the shared spaces without him.
Shit.
I've known David for decades. We were never really close--it was mostly a convention-based sort of friendship--but he was one of the people I really enjoyed talking science fiction with, so I loved spending time with him. I also enjoyed writing for him on the NYRSF where he gave wonderful feed back. I consider the fact that he actually liked my work and wanted more of it to be perhaps the highest compliment I've ever received as a writer.Finally David, I think, was a genuinely decent human being.
I've known David for decades. We were never really close--it was mostly a convention-based sort of friendship--but he was one of the people I really enjoyed talking science fiction with, so I loved spending time with him. I also enjoyed writing for him on the NYRSF where he gave wonderful feed back. I consider the fact that he actually liked my work and wanted more of it to be perhaps the highest compliment I've ever received as a writer.Finally David, I think, was a genuinely decent human being.
So saddened by the loss of David. A towering figure in the SF field, a kind and erudite man.
IT was such a shock to hear this morning about David. I have known for over 40 years. I just can't believe that I'll never see those "colorful" ties, singing teenage death songs at midnight, his cheerful face when I would visit TOR. I agree with Tom Whitmore and Parris--we should all were hideous ties/shirts at KC to honor him. He will be missed.
This is utterly devastating. My heart goes out to his two youngest kids, Lizzie and Peter, who are far too young to lose a father, as well as the rest of his family.
I last saw David during the 2015 World Fantasy Convention. As we were flinging those oh-so-heavy boxes of books around, I groaned that I was too old for this, and that he, 30+ years my senior, must be thinking of retiring. "Oh, no!" he replied, "I'll never be too old for this!" We then joked that lifting all those boxes kept us young.
I never had a bad conversation with David, nor a boring one. He cared deeply about things. He was always quick to smile, quick to greet you, and good at remembering people. Indeed, he had a great mind and a great heart--truly a mensch. We didn't always agree, but we could always see each other's side. A great loss to the SFF world.
Kathryn, I'm so sorry. I greatly enjoyed his company the couple of times we met - enormously smart, well read, and opinionated; insisting that I had to buy a copy of Sturgeon's Thunder and Roses to properly understand the science fiction short story. He shaped the books that helped make my world. There's an Irish saying: his like will not be seen again. It won't.
Katheryn, condolances and much sympathy for you and your family. This is horrible. Hugs across the e-ways.
2016, you are fucking FIRED. Just stahp already with the death and dying!
I only know the world he shaped.
I'm sorry for your loss, each of you.
I did not know him. My deep condolences for all his friends and family.
So sorry to hear this. Always enjoyed seeing him at ALA, WorldCon, and here and there. What a loss. He will be missed.
I am personally devastated, as are many of us. The man was a leader, a mentor, and an inspiration. The world is a sadder place withouth him.
I am told that David has, indeed, left the building (per a post on Facebook from Kathryn passed on by Dave Nee). I am very sorry to see him go.
Farewell, David. There Are Doors . . .
World Fantasy.
Midnight.
Teen Angel.
An end of era.
What a shock and a sadness.
I'm so sorry. I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but my bookshelves are inestimably richer thanks to him.
I was thinking I'd never met him, but I remember years ago at a filk, at around midnight, someone singing about a teenaged fatal highway crash (a memorable line has stuck with me all these years later: "You could smell the rubber burning... you could also smell the tires, in that goddamn wreck out there on the highway...")
Given the remarks upthread about filking teenage tragic highway deaths, I have to wonder, now, if that was David Hartwell.
My condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
My deepest condolences to all who knew him.
I didn't know Dave, but my condolences to everyone who knew him.
I only met David a few times over the years, but every one was a memorable experience. I was privileged to write for the New York Review of Science Fiction for nearly twenty years, and in a genre that's often described as an on-going discussion, he made me feel that I could be a meaningful part of the conversation. Thanks for that, David. Science fiction has lost one of the good guys.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this and not wanting it to be true.
My god. I just read the post from Kathryn Cramer. How terrible. How old is their daughter?
I know almost every one of the people in this Comments list, and I know them because of David. When he hired me away from my editorial assistant position with Jim Baen at Ace Books (on the grounds, as far as I can tell, that I was willing to jump into the PhilCon swimming pool after hours in my underwear) to work with him and John Douglas on the nascent Simon & Schuster/Timescape line as his associate editor, he opened up my world. He was an endlessly generous mentor who made sure I met all the greats of the field as they passed through NYC (and sometimes brought me along on expense account lunch with them): Poul Anderson, Alfred Bester, Ursula Le Guin & Virginia Kidd (lunch at the Algonquin, of course!), Ted White... He let me acquire and edit work by Nancy Springer, Lisa Goldstein, Terry Bisson, gave me advice, offered insights into the workings of publishing ("If this were a science, we'd all be rich!"), and he put up with my 20-something megrims.
I quit that job to write my first novel. When I finished Swordspoint, no one in the field would touch it but David. While my agent tried selling it mainstream, David said he would be there waiting (then at Arbor House) if that failed. I joked that it was just his revenge on me for quitting on him - to get me back in his clutches - but they were fine clutches to be in. He made sure my little ms. was read by the likes of Samuel R. Delany, and he proudly told me he was getting me a Thomas Canty cover, knowing that was my ultimate dream -
OK, I have to stop now - because I'm going to cry if I go on, and because this is turning into the long and comprehensive post that I should write myself, instead of sticking it on this page inspired by the words of others.
I'll just finish by saying that over the last year or two - as David looked worn and tired and often unwell, so that I did not expect him to be around forever - I was able to tell him more than once how much I felt I owed him. And everyone's right: It is a great consoler when someone is gone.
It is true that there were moments in the last couple of years when I felt suddenly moved to ask David if he was all right, and express hope that he'd get a bit more rest and recuperation. As far as I can never tell, he never actually slowed down; he just got more tired.
So sorry to read this news of his death.
For those who haven't followed today's updates to the main front-page post, here are two posts by Kathryn Cramer that anyone and everyone who cared about David should absolutely read.
On Facebook, A Couple of Points
Kathryn, @21 Jan, 9:30 PM: That nurse has blisters on her hands. A friend of mine got blisters on her hands, from squeezing the blue bag for hours, in a rural hospital.
Jacque @146: blisters, or calluses. Depends on how often she has to do it. And my heart goes out to her.
Regarding the call for donations to the hospital to purchase a respirator, JJ from File770 emailed the hospital. JJ posted the hopital's reply HERE.
As the respirator package isn't appropriate for this hospital, why not shift the emphasis and let them decide where donations in Hartwell's name should go?
Carol Kimball, I think that's entirely appropriate.
Patrick @ 143: David \tried/ to slow down; he commented on age several years ago at a WFC board meeting, and found someone to vice-chair. But that part of his life got more hasslesome. (The issue of the trophy wasn't the worst of it.)
He sometimes seemed to feel that potential conrunners should grok how WFC works despite it being off their usual path -- but he never stopped trying to keep it a place where interested people could argue about all forms of non-mimetic storytelling, regardless of their backgrounds. Not having his encyclopedic knowledge at conventions will be a continuing jar.
David was the best at getting people to do things they did not know they could do. He was a good friend and a great encourager to so many of us.
I was reminded of his 70th birthday party, Patrick :
http://www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/hartwell1.jpg
HWW
Bless GRRM for remembering Teen Angel. I imagine that David himself is now Somewhere Up Above, but the whole SF field is still his Own True Love, though sadder for his absence. Sniff.
Personally, I will remember him for his casual kindness. He barely knew me--a friend of friends who'd been to some of his parties--but for 30 years (!) he smiled and greeted me by name whenever he saw me at a con. There were times when that friendly hello was just the mood booster that I needed, and I'll miss it in the future.
Let my try to offer my condolences to everybody who got to know him closer: I attended a Kaffeeklatsch with him at Loncon. Quite unexpectedly, it became the high point of the whole Worldcon experience overload for me, so much that I didn't go to whatever I was looking forward to immediately afterwards, just to savour the glow. As others have said, it was how he was both gentlemanly and... cheerful; still obviously a classics scholar, and at the same time an enthusiastic fan. Another big chunk of the 20th century and its science fiction is gone.
BTW, not mentioned here yet and somebody might miss it: NYRSF on FB announced a memorial issue, deadline 14 Feb.
Really--sf without Hartwell? Hard to even consider it. I expect every time I see someone wearing a strange tie at a con, I will be surprised it is not him.
Or just surprised because he's not there, teasing, testing, making introductions and a sudden brilliant point about the fictions of the day.
I send hugs to Kathryn now in this ghastly half-life that can last long or short depending
on the tides. Been there, done that, never want to do it again.
And I send hugs to all of us who had our lives changed or rearranged by David Hartwell.
It's been an awful season of change.
Jane
In a motel room in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Alarm set for 6:30 so we get up early enough to attend David's funeral in a nearby town at 10 AM tomorrow morning.
Our beloved Jane Yolen's comment above is casually heartrending. We will never be okay with losing either of the Davids alluded to. It's a broken universe and I want a refund.
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