Budrys, Algis 1931-2008 (Ajay Budrys, Algirdas Budrys, Algirdas Jonas Budrys, Ivan Janvier, Paul Janvier, Robert Marner, Frank Mason, William Scarff, John A. Sentry)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 9, 1931, in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia); died of melanoma, June 9, 2008, in Evanston, IL. Critic, educator, novelist, short-story writer, editor, and nonfiction author. Budrys was a prolific short-story writer in the early days of his career, so much so that he alternated among several pseudonyms to disguise the fact that he sometimes had multiple stories in a single magazine at the same time. When he made the transition to novelist, his productivity decreased somewhat, but his readership remained loyal. Budrys wrote science fiction and, equally important to some of his critics, he was a skillful and respected book reviewer of science fiction. His review column appeared in Galaxy magazine in the 1960s and in Fantasy and Science Fiction for several years thereafter. His own creative work stood out in a crowded field. Although his science fiction was known for its scientific detail, Budrys's focus was on people: how people feel and how they deal (or fail to deal) with change. He once connected this theme to his own background as a foreigner: born in what was at the time a disconnected district of Germany to Lithuanian parents, raised and educated almost wholly in America, yet tinged forever, at least faintly, by the legacy of his international heritage.

Budrys published at least a dozen science fiction titles. One of his best-known books is Rogue Moon (1960), a short novel about an alien artifact discovered on the moon that mysteriously kills all who try to unravel its secrets (and which was nominated for the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Society). Another popular title was Michaelmas (1977), a novel about intelligent machines and computer hacking, which appeared before, and seems to have anticipated, the widespread proliferation of the personal computer. Budrys was a longtime teacher and creative writing judge with the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Program (but not a proponent of Hubbard's Scientology religious movement). His published writers' guides include Writing to the Point: A Complete Guide to Selling Fiction (1994). His criticism includes Non-Literary Influences on Science Fiction (1987). Despite a lifelong dedication to science fiction, Budrys also maintained an active life outside the field. He held many editorial and executive positions for Gnome Press, Regency Books, and Playboy Press, among other publishers, and worked as a public relations executive and communications consultant in the Chicago area. In his free time he built custom bicycles and even published a bicycle repair manual. Budrys was a lifelong writer and critic. One of his last books was the science fiction novel Hard Landing (2003).

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Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2008, sec. 2, p. 11.