Ursula Le Guin

A few weeks ago, Ursula K. Le Guin died.  She was one of the bad-ass bosses of fantasy/SF writing, and with her passing it feels like a whole era is ending.  She was also one of the writers who inspired me as a kid, first through sheer love of reading her books – A  Wizard of Earthsea basically got me into fantasy along with Pratchett’s Discworld – and later through a growing awareness of the role of women writers in the field.  ‘Cos fantasy/SF is still pretty firmly male.  Many many awesome males, but still more than there are women, and more sitting cosy at the top of that ladder too.  A huge number of the dudes who have achieved praise and success have done so because of their stunning awesome; but if Sad Puppies taught us anything in recent years, it’s that there are still a vocal bunch of loons who will not read a book simply because it’s by either a) a woman or b) anyone from pretty much any ethnic minority.

See also: being that kind of angry about Star Wars: the Last Jedi.

At times like this, being able to look at my bookshelves and find the works of Le Guin were both a huge comfort, but also an inspiration.  Not merely in how beautiful her writing is, and how clear her ideas, but in that here was a woman who could stand up and call bullshit, and the regular barrage of dismissals that are flung around – “oh, she’s just bitter” or “she’s trying to suck the fun out of books!” just washed straight off her.  Because she’s Ursula Le Guin, the Batman of SF.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpIQQeL2ZYk

She changed my childhood and my world; and the genre and the lives of thousands and thousands of people who love stories and words.  RIP Ursula Le Guin, who rocked the galaxy.