Alexei Panshin (August 14, 1940 – August 21, 2022) was an American writer and science fiction critic. He wrote several critical works and several novels, including the 1968 Nebula Award–winning novel Rite of Passage and, with his wife Cory Panshin, the 1990 Hugo Award–winning study of science fiction The World Beyond the Hill.

Personal life

Panshin was born in Lansing, Michigan, on August 14, 1940. He died on August 21, 2022, at the age of 82.

Career

Fiction

Panshin was the author of the Anthony Villiers series made up of Star Well, The Thurb Revolution, and Masque World. A fourth volume entitled The Universal Pantograph, never appeared, reputedly because of conflicts between the writer and his publisher. Of the Villiers series, noted SF writer Samuel R. Delany writes in the foreword of Star Well: "It ... examines the proposition that the world is composed of small communities of mutual interest ... [Star Well] is a gallery of gamblers, duels and double-crosses, a minuet of manners and manners mangled; the machinery of the universe is speculated upon; inspector generals arrive to inspect it. And Anthony Villiers, gentleman par excellence, dashes through it all, buckling a swash or two, bungling a couple of others." New Celebrations, an omnibus volume collecting the first three volumes, has appeared. Panshin wrote a novel, Earth Magic with his wife, Cory Panshin. His works also include a short story collection, Farewell To Yesterday's Tomorrow.

Nonfiction

Panshin published a study of the prominent American science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, Heinlein in Dimension. Most of this work was originally published in fanzines, for which Panshin won the Best Fan Writer Hugo award in 1967. The writings were then published in book form by Advent. Panshin discusses reactions to this work on his website The Abyss of Wonder. Panshin's general critical work SF in Dimension (1976) was also co-written with Cory Panshin, as was his lengthy theoretical-critical The World Beyond The Hill: Science Fiction and the Quest for Transcendence (1989), which received a Hugo Award for Best Related Work. A number of Alexei Panshin's books (including The World Beyond the Hill) are being republished by Phoenix Pick, an imprint of Arc Manor Publishers.

Published work

Fiction

Novels

Short fiction collections

Nonfiction

Citations