The Farthest Shore

“For a word to be spoken, there must be silence. Before, and after.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

I was saddened to learn from my friend Chris on Tuesday that veteran science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin had passed away.  Not surprised - when someone has reached the age of 88, the news of their death is unlikely to be surprising - but certainly sad.  Ursula K. Le Guin was a remarkable presence in the world, and her departure is an enormous loss.

I've given a lot of thought about what to say in regards to Le Guin's passing, and it all seems clichéd and banal in the light of her personality and her work.  She was a powerful, brilliant, imaginative, thoughtful, witty, evocative author whose writing was both moving and literally thought-provoking. Much of her work fell under the umbrella of fantasy or science fiction, which is why I had the good fortune to discover her, but so much of it defied definition.  Regardless of genre, her skill and craft as a writer was extraordinary, with not a word wasted or misused, and the world of letters - and the world in general - is diminished by her departure.

If you have not had the pleasure of reading anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, I strongly recommend that you do.  It doesn't matter what.  A quick search through Google™ will give you a list representing her more popular pieces, but that's just a guideline, reading anything that she wrote will be equally rewarding.  I suspect that her shopping lists were probably more entertaining and absorbing - and better written - than a lot of books by better known authors.  The only introduction I will give her is from her own words as used in introducing another author:

Here are
Some real stories.

  - Sid