We hear from Janna Silverstein that short fiction author Mark Bourne died 25 February 2012 of a sudden heart attack. She writes “The social worker told me the following: This morning at 6AM, Mark called 911 reporting that he was having a ‘cardiac event.’ When the medics arrived, Mark was slumped over in a chair. They performed CPR on site for about an hour, and continued compressions in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Because of his age (that he was a relatively young man), they continued CPR at the hospital for another hour, but he never came back.” He was 50 years old.
Writing on his web site, Bourne describes himself: “I’m a writer and creative director by trade; an astronomy buff by both avocation and erstwhile vocation; now and then paid the rent, back in the day, as an actor and stage director; and have been a seriously good teacher. The best were the occasions when I’ve been able to combine all of the above.” In addition, he has “worked in cooperation with Ray Bradbury to bring two of his plays to life; written and seen produced scripts under the aegis of Paramount Pictures; performed with sketch and improvisational comedy groups before large and rowdy audiences; taught English lit, writing, and drama to high school students, and astronomy to little kids and adults; directed a senior class play and a semi-professional theater company; been a TV science correspondent; served as the Special Guest Buckaroo on the Ranger Bob children’s TV show; and assistant-directed an outdoor Shakespeare Festival.… And in the Star Wars universe an inhabited alien star system has been named after me.”
His short stories have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, and a slew of anthologies.
He met his wife, Elizabeth (who survives him), when he was writing and creative directing Star Trek: Orion Rendezvous, the “only officially sanctioned Star Trek planetarium show.”