Thomas M. Disch (1940 - 2008)

Iconoclastic queer author Thomas M. Disch committed suicide on July 4, 2008.

It was a tragic end to a many layered, meteoric career. Disch first began to get notice in the Science Fiction (or Speculative Fiction) field, as one of the practitioners of the 1960s New Wave movement, which bought edgy subject matter and literary values to the popular genre. His novels Camp Concentration, 334 and On the Wings of Song are all considered classics, with their trademark dark humor and pessisism. Contemporary Samuel R. Delany wrote a book-length essay on the semiotics of his short story Angouleme. Not content to rest on his laurels, Disch made in-roads in other literary genres, including horror, gothic romance (under a female pseudonym), criticism, children’s books, librettos and finally, poetry. He was also the recipient of several major awards. A couple of novels will be published posthumously. Perhaps he can experience a revival, a la Philip K. Dick