It’s both exciting and sad that I’ve discovered so many things now that I’m older that I never knew about when I was younger. This isn’t about being trans, that’s something I’ve known since I was in single digit years. No, this is about an author.

This is about finding authors who were alive and writing when I was devouring a genre but never heard of them. I was at the library all the time, constantly checking out sci-fi books to read. I also spent every last cent I earned or was gifted for birthdays/holidays at my local bookshop. Books were my candy growing up.

This particular author is Kate Wilhelm. She was writing short stories and novels since the 1960s, especially in the New Wave movement of the late 60s and early 70s. Her writing is amazing, beautiful prose & psychologically-based stories. I love her atmospheres (no SF pun intended) & the inner lives of her characters. Three of my favorites books of hers were The Abyss (two novellas), Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1977 Hugo Award for best novel) and Somerset Dreams and Other Fictions (collection of short stories and novellas).

She died in 2018. I read my first of her books in 2020. I could have been a fan. I could have seen her at a convention or a book signing. I could have told her how much she impacted me (both as a reader and a writer (her craft can teach a great deal)).

Why didn’t I know about her? Maybe because she was a woman in a pretty male-dominated genre, especially at her peak? But, she outclassed so many of them. Maybe because I didn’t look hard enough? I’m not sure, but I try to sample so many more authors today so that I don’t miss out on someone amazing who I might be able to have a connection while we’re both still walking around.

Just my 2¢ on an idea that popped into my head at 4:14 am this morning.