My thoughts are with David G. Hartwell and his wife Kathryn Cramer. Last night Hartwell suffered severe head trauma, from which he passed away today.
As an editor Hartwell influenced my love of science fiction in many unseen ways. Without Hartwell the world would have a very different view of the works of Samuel R. Delany and Philip K. Dick and Gene Wolfe.
It's quite likely Delany's The Motion of Light in Water and Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, both of which are among the best literary works of the entire 20th century, wouldn't exist without Hartwell.
On a personal level Hartwell was responsible for two of my most exciting moments as a SF author. The first was when he and Kathryn selected my story "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain " for one of their year's best anthologies.
The second was at a convention where Hartwell was the editor guest of honor. My short story collection Never Never Stories was released at the con and I was sitting at a table signing copies when Hartwell walked up with a friend. Hartwell smiled at me and told his friend, "I love this guy's stories."
I was floored that such a legendary editor would express such kindness about my writing.
Hartwell cared deeply about promoting and finding new authors. In fact, he once complained to me that not enough new authors where approaching him at a convention and pitching their stories.
In my mind, that kind of receptiveness to new authors is exactly what you'd want in an editor.
Thank you, David Hartwell. Thank you.