Ron Goulart has passed.

Recently, I decided that I needed some light reading, preferably of the comedy/farce variety, to relax my tensions a bit. I quickly thought of Ron Goulart's SF stories, of which I had read a number, and which brimmed over with slapstick, farce, and general silliness. OK, occasionally, some genuine satire. But mostly just quick, fun reads, some of which was not very PC when it was published, and even more which would not be today (one of his recurring characters was a "lovable rake", a type which would trigger heaps of criticism today). No hard science, stock aliens, and a breakneck race from one bit of lunacy to the next, but plotted well enough to maintain suspense. As I said, fun reads. He even wrote a comic strip, Star Hawks, drawn by Gil Kane.

So. Several days ago, I searched ThriftBooks for any and all RG books, and was surprised at the sheer number he had written, of which I had read a relatively small portion. (I was totally unaware of his many nonfiction works related to comics and comic artists, as well as his fiction in other genres, including a number of serializations.) I turned to Wikipedia to find other books not carried by ThriftBooks, and came up with a list of volumes to acquire in the near future. Just today, I checked back with Wikipedia to add some more details and was saddened to see that his friends are reporting that Ron passed away on 14 January, the day after his 89th birthday. A sad, unexpected revelation. I am excerpting an obit column by his friend, Mark Evanier, below. For myself, I can only add: RIP to the "Mack Sennett of Science Fiction".