RIP David Feintuch, 1944-2006
Mar. 21st, 2006 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Just learned today in the course of a casual search that David Feintuch died last week, on March 16th. He's a SF author who's published nine books, in two series (one SF, one Fantasy).
I've only read the SF series, called the Seafort Saga. This centers around a far future officer of a Navy (now extended to outer space), Nicholas Seafort, and is heavily inspired by the Horatio Hornblower series, which I've never read so I can't really explain how. The first novel has a series of tragic accidents killing all line officers above him in the chain of command, forces him to take Captain of his ship while still a Midshipman and only a teenager. The society is strongly religious (as is the main character), almost a theocracy. Because of the peculiarities of space travel in this universe, officers begin training on starships very young, and trips are often months long, requiring strict discipline, adherence to protocol, and the Captain being the ultimate authority aboard ship, to the point that even touching him uninvited is a death penalty offense, and where anyone involved in mutiny would most likely be hanged upon returning to port, even if it was found they had good cause, just to set an example. The series as a whole spans many decades as he's promoted or elected to various positions and faces hosts of new tragedies.
There is a certain 'sameness' to the books, with repeated themes of his main character going through horrible misfortune after misfortune, his obsessive honesty and adherence to regulations both getting him in trouble and saving him, and various people hating him at first and then coming to respect him and following him unto death after he imposes brutal discipline. Yet with all that, it's somehow compulsively readable, for me at least, and at least 2 or three times I've picked up the first book to reread a few chapters I particularly liked, and wound up quickly going through the whole series.
So, I'm saddened by the death, and of course by the knowledge that I'll get no more of the adventures of Nicholas Seafort. Edit: Doing some searching, I discovered some (thus far unconfirmed) information that about 6 months before his death he finished he manuscript to what would be his last Seafort novel. So hopefully, there's that to look forward to.
There is another thing worthy of note about this author. David Feintuch won the 1996 John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer (in SF). He was 50 when his first novel was published. That should give hope to all of us who think our time has passed because we're getting older with nothing significant to show for it.
Here's to you, man, rest in peace.
I've only read the SF series, called the Seafort Saga. This centers around a far future officer of a Navy (now extended to outer space), Nicholas Seafort, and is heavily inspired by the Horatio Hornblower series, which I've never read so I can't really explain how. The first novel has a series of tragic accidents killing all line officers above him in the chain of command, forces him to take Captain of his ship while still a Midshipman and only a teenager. The society is strongly religious (as is the main character), almost a theocracy. Because of the peculiarities of space travel in this universe, officers begin training on starships very young, and trips are often months long, requiring strict discipline, adherence to protocol, and the Captain being the ultimate authority aboard ship, to the point that even touching him uninvited is a death penalty offense, and where anyone involved in mutiny would most likely be hanged upon returning to port, even if it was found they had good cause, just to set an example. The series as a whole spans many decades as he's promoted or elected to various positions and faces hosts of new tragedies.
There is a certain 'sameness' to the books, with repeated themes of his main character going through horrible misfortune after misfortune, his obsessive honesty and adherence to regulations both getting him in trouble and saving him, and various people hating him at first and then coming to respect him and following him unto death after he imposes brutal discipline. Yet with all that, it's somehow compulsively readable, for me at least, and at least 2 or three times I've picked up the first book to reread a few chapters I particularly liked, and wound up quickly going through the whole series.
So, I'm saddened by the death, and of course by the knowledge that I'll get no more of the adventures of Nicholas Seafort. Edit: Doing some searching, I discovered some (thus far unconfirmed) information that about 6 months before his death he finished he manuscript to what would be his last Seafort novel. So hopefully, there's that to look forward to.
There is another thing worthy of note about this author. David Feintuch won the 1996 John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer (in SF). He was 50 when his first novel was published. That should give hope to all of us who think our time has passed because we're getting older with nothing significant to show for it.
Here's to you, man, rest in peace.
