Mike Resnick, a major figure in science fiction, has died after a brief battle with "a very aggressive form of lymphoma" that was diagnosed in November. He was 77.

Resnick had a well-deserved reputation as a mentor and editor, as well as being a prolific writer. As Michael Swanwick notes in his remembrance of Resnick, he was "the man with a thousand little rockets" -- a reference to how he would stud each year's World Science Fiction Convention badge with rows of Hugo Award nominee pins, a tribute to both how much work he produced and how well-received it was by his legion of fans.

Resnick launched a Gofundme campaign in November to help pay for his medical expenses. Today, that campaign is being used by his family to defray his medical debt and to help his widow Carol with her ongoing living costs.

Resnick's daughter, the writer Laura Resnick, added this in her remembrance of her father: "His connection to his friends, his readers, and his colleagues enriched his life, and he never stopped being delighted to meet people who read his work, who were interested in writing, who loved books and stories, and who shared his sense of wonder. He remained enthusiastic about his craft and devoted to his writing to the end of his life, and was always thrilled to be part of the science fiction community, as both a fan and a pro. He taught me a lot about being a writer and a professional."

John Scalzi's obit for Resnick emphasizes Resnick's pay-it-forward attitude: "what I think you will see most in the tributes that will be coming out about in the next few days is the fact he was a teacher and mentor to a great number of writers in the science fiction community, sharing advice about writing and the writing life over decades." Read the rest

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