Julian May (1931 – 2017)

October 20, 2017

Back in 2010 when I decided I would start collecting my thoughts about books I’d read I was being my usual indecisive self. I spent an age umming and ahhing about what my book review website site would look like, what content would the site have, who did I wanted to try and target with my content and what rules would I follow. The only thing that was never in any doubt was what the site would be called. I already had a name, I’d seen it many years before and it was perfect. It had stayed with me, it meant something to me and part of me knew if I was going to be writing about books it was really the only sensible choice.

For years I had daydreamed about running my own dusty little book shop, I still do even now. It would be somewhere off the beaten track, somewhere that was never really that popular. I could be left alone to read in peace without the distractions of modern life intruding.

When I first discovered Julian May’s work, it felt like she had delved deep into my brain and rummaged around in my innermost thoughts. She took that chaotic morass, unpicked it all and crafted a series of books that felt like they had been written for me. When I read Intervention I was hooked, the books that followed were equally engrossing. I always wanted to be Rogi Remillard. I’d always wanted to own a bookshop called The Eloquent Page. I’m pretty quiet, I rather like when people consider me unassuming and I’ve always felt more comfortable surrounded by books. Reading about a character that was like that made an awkward teenage boy feel about more comfortable about himself.

I read this morning that Julian May had passed away, aged eighty-six. I found myself choked up. I’d never met her but sometimes there are authors that come along and change your life. They challenge your preconceived view of the world, they expand your horizons, they force you to engage your brain and think. I could wax lyrical about the Galactic Milieu series for days. After I was done I’d bend your ear endlessly about the Saga of the Exiles (Aiken Drum, Felice Landry and Stein Olsen for the win!). I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Julian May all I know is what her writing meant to me.

Maybe one day I will finally get to meet her in The Many-Coloured Land. I’d like that. In fantasy and science fiction, all things remain possible.

My condolences to her family and friends.

 

Rest in Peace

 

http://kryptonradio.com/2017/10/19/sf-author-julian-may-dead-86/

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