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The world of genre fiction has lost two major names in the past week, Tony Hillerman on Oct 26, and Michael Crichton on November 4.
Hillerman gained acclaim for his mysteries featuring Navajo investigators Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, and was named a special friend of the tribe by the Navajo Tribal Council for his tribal portrayals at a time when most Americans believed that the native tribes were still primitive and uncivilized peoples.
Crichton had directed feature films, and created the TV series ER — which is currently in it’s 15th and final season on NBC — in addition to the top-selling techno-thriller novels he’d written.
They both will be missed, but their words will continue to speak to readers for many many years to come.
Link: Acclaimed author Tony Hillerman dies at 83
Link: Michael Crichton: Science inspired his fiction
Photos by Kelly Campbell and Jim Cooper
I wonder how long it will take us to realize how much damage Mr. Crichton did to science and technology by promoting a technophobic, not just techno-skeptical, viewpoint, particularly in his later books.
The possibility definitely exists for his novels to become the 20th century’s versions of “Frankenstein” or “Brave New World”
He was skeptical of this possibility – http://www.reason.com/news/show/129950.html – but I still wonder.