Charles Sheffield was born in England on this day, June 25, in 1935.  He passed away in 2002.  Sheffield was one of my favorite writers when I was in high school, college, and graduate school.  A scientist, Sheffield wrote science fiction of the “hard science” variety, but with characters who were living, breathing human beings.  They weren’t from Central Casting.  He began his writing career after the death of his first wife in the late 70’s.  By this time he was laready living in the United States.

Sheffield was adept at both long and short forms.  He wrote several series, as well as stand-alone novels, such as Godspeed, which has been described as the book we would have gotten had Robert Heinlein written Treasure Island.  Most of his novels are still in print through Baen.

I wish someone would put together a retrospective of his work.  Today is going to be hectic, but I’ll try to read a short piece by him and raise a glass to memory this evening.