James E. Gunn (1923-2020)

On December 23rd, 2020, my mentor and colleague Christopher McKitterick sent my fellow Young Gunns and I an email informing us that our namesake, James Edwin Gunn, died. 

For much of his life, Professor Gunn was scholar of Science Fiction. 

Portrait by Andy White

He established what has to be one of the only institutes devoted to the study of SF at an American Public Research University, the James Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas--Lawrence. It was through the Center that the Unviersity sponsored the long-running Gunn Center Conference (formerly the Campbell Conference), an annual academic convention where scholars and writers within the community gathered to discuss various topics within the SF genre and history. It is also the venue that awards the annual (also soon-to-be renamed) Campbell Award for Best Novel and the Sturgeon Award for Best Short Story.

He wrote several influential works on the history and creative evolution of the Science Fiction genre, such as the six-volume The Road to Science Fiction, Alternate World: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction 3rd Edition, and his book Isaac Asimov, a critical study of the life and work of the eponymous author, for which he won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work in 1983.

Gunn, however, wasn't just an academic. He was also a creative writer in the field himself. Novels such as Star Bridge (co-written with fellow writer, Jack Williamson), The Listeners, This Fortress World, The Dreamers (a signed copy of which I'm lucky enough to own) and, most recently, The Transcendental Machine trilogy all bare his name on their covers.

As befits a figure of his standing within the SF Community, honors filled his latter years. In 2007, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (of which he served as President from 1971-1972) awarded him the Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster Award. In 2015, Locus Magazine honored him, and four others, with induction to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. That's the man's professional legacy. 

However, what the world lost on December 23rd wasn't that. All of that will outlive him. What the world, and the people who knew him best in that time, was the man. And the man--a kind, caring, encouraging, progressive person--who was always concerned with the state of the future (a professional preoccupation of SF writers), will be missed by all those who knew him and whose lives he impacted, directly and indirectly.

While I cannot claim to have been a close friend of Gunn--I only managed to make his acquaintance twice in the last 3 years of his life--I can claim to have been a grateful beneficiary of his life's work and legacy. 

Every summer (with 2020, of course, being a noted exception), the Center named in his honor sponsored four weeks of writer's workshops: The SF Novel Writing Workshop, the Short Fiction Writing Workshop, the more recently established YA Novel Writing Workshop, and, of course, the Repeat Offenders Writing Workshops of all the formerly mentioned. 

I was lucky enough in 2018 for Christopher McKitterick, the present director of the Gunn Center, to accept me to the short fiction workshop. I learned a great deal, enough that I returned as a repeat offender last year. I was even privileged  enough to have some of my stories workshopped by Professor Gunn on both occasions. And, for the last few years, I've worked as a first-reader for the magazine that bears his name, James Gunn's Ad Astra, which has taught me much in a different way. Without these experiences, I don't think I'd be where I am now, and without Professor Gunn, none of this would've been possible. 

I, along with those who knew him best, including Chris and Kij Johnson (whose intimate tribute to him you can read here), mourn his passing. The world will never be the same, but I have no doubt that his legacy will continue to impact many for years to come.

Thank you, Jim. We will all miss you.

(If you'd like to take the time to listen to James Gunn talk about Science Fiction, please feel free to listen to this two-part interview he did with Michael Page. It's a wonderful record and sound-portrait of the man.)