It is with heavy heart I pass on the news of yet another death in the space activist community. Dr. Charles Sheffield, one of many Brit expats who chased the dream of space flight across the big pond died yesterday.
I have no photos of Charles,1 although I interacted with him on an almost daily basis in the mid eighties. I was “the Prez” of the Pittsburgh L5 Society chapter and ran a local and an international L5 Conference and other space events for which he came up from the Washington, DC area to attend, assist with and speak at. We both served on the board of directors of the L5 Society during that period, so I worked with him in that capacity as well. At times we felt like he was part of our crazy bunch of hard drinking, hard partying, Steeler and Penguin cheering Spacers at Pittsburgh L5.
He was one of those whose life was utterly dedicated to our goal of moving off planet. He worked on commercial satellites by day; he wrote great hard science fiction by night; in all his spare moments he was an L5 Society activist… and how he found time to also raise a family I have no idea.
Vaya con Dios, Ad Astra and “next year in L5” Charles.
1 = There might be 1987 photo’s of him here but I have not had time to look through them all.
First Forward, now Sheffield.
One of the few sf authors who originated from this country but never wrote in the UK style.
Especially liked “The Web between the Worlds” and “Between The Strokes of Night”.
Complete bibliography and photo can be found at http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk.
Thanks for putting this up, Dale. Damned good work.
I’ll also remember his sense of humour. And what a nice guy he was.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got photo negatives of Charles in my extensive files. I’ll look for them.
Thanks for putting this up, Dale. Damned good work.
I’ll also remember his sense of humour. And what a nice guy he was.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got photo negatives of Charles in my extensive files. I’ll look for them.