Thomas M. Disch, writer of hard-edged science fiction, social critic and poet, committed suicide in his New York City apartment on July 4th, 2008.
Born in the Midwest in 1940 (Des Moines) and raised in Minnesota's Twin Cities, Disch first connected with literature in high school classes, before being sidetracked by numerous jobs in multiple fields. By his twenties, Disch had moved to New York, ultimately taking classes at New York University. It was there that his writing finally kicked in, and although he worked a series of odd jobs to pay the rent, it was his short story and poetry writing that started to get him noticed in the literary world. His body of work ultimately included science fiction novels and stories, 10 poetry collections, plays, criticisms, an opera libretto for an adaptation of Frankenstein, gothic works and childrens' books.
His 1968 novel
Camp Concentration is about an inmate in a US concentration camp who's treated with experimental drugs, and 1974's
334 is an experimental collection of linked stories all set in a New York City apartment complex. Disch' 1980 novella,
The Brave Little Toaster was adapted into an animated film from Disney. His 1998 collection of essays,
The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of won science fiction's Hugo Award for best non-fiction book of the year.
In recent years, Disch had maintained
a blog at LiveJournal, where he continued to present original poetry and make acerbic observations on the world at large. Disch had suffered from depression at various times in his life, and the recent loss of his long time companion (and occasional writing partner) Charles Naylor, as well as a fight to maintain possession of his rent-controlled apartment, are rumored to have spurred him to take his own life.
Wikipedia entry on Thomas M. Disch
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