Fantasy author and civil libertarian Joel Rosenberg died 2 June 2011, a day after he suffered a respiratory depression that caused a heart attack, anoxic brain damage, and major organ failure. Per his wishes, Joel’s organs were harvested for donation. Born 1 May 1954 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, he graduated from the University of Connecticut, and began his writing career in 1978, with an op-ed piece in The New York Times favoring nuclear power. He was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New SF Writer in 1984.
His first published fiction was the story “Like the Gentle Rains”, which appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in 1982. In 1983, his first novel, The Sleeping Dragon, appeared, debuting his long-running Guardians of the Flame series, which eventually ran to ten volumes. He published another fifteen novels in various series, including D’Shai (1991), which was nominated for the Prometheus Award. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database has his full bibliography here.
Rosenberg’s other career was as a handgun instructor, Second Amendment advocate, and author of related books (including Everything you Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Minnesota). He has recently been involved in legal actions against the state of Minnesota stemming from his advocacy. See, for example, his Jew With a Gun web site.
Steven H Silver, telling us of Rosenberg’s death, writes “Joel was the first person I met at the first science fiction convention I attended. I had exchanged some letters with him about his Guardian of the Flame books (and Mark Twain) and had decided to attend Windycon to have the chance to meet him. Not knowing anything about conventions, I arrived, figured out a panel he would be on, and sat in the front row. I planned to approach him after the panel and introduce myself. While people were still filing in, a big bear of a man planted himself in front of me and asked, ‘Are you Steven Silver?’ It was Joel, on the look out for me.
“Over the years, I saw Joel several times, but not ever enough. The last time was at Minicon in 2008, where I got to introduce him to my wife and daughters.”
His Minneapolis StarTribune obituary focuses exclusively on his gun rights life.
Rosenberg is survived by his daughters, Judith Eleanor and Rachel Hannah, and his wife, Felicia Herman. Today, June third, would have been his 32nd wedding anniversary.