The Green Man sends in the very sad news of the death of science fiction author Kage Baker, who finally died of cancer on Sunday January 31st 2010 at the age of 58.

Kathleen Bartholomew, Kage Baker's sister, noted, "She died at 1:15 this morning. She had begun to have difficulty breathing early this evening; I gave her atropine and morphine for the breathing problems and the pain, but by about 8 PM she slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she requested was to have her pillows adjusted - she said she was more comfortable, and after that she said nothing else. She became unresponsive very shortly thereafter, and by her own request, no heroic efforts were made."

"Her sister Anne and nieces Kate and Emma were up this weekend, and watched with me for most of the evening. . At about 1 AM her breathing got louder and lighter and more urgent, though her pupils were not responsive to light; there was a rush of bile from her mouth, and then she passed away very quietly in our arms."

"Kage's body will go to MedCure, a body donation program working on training surgery students. They will cremate it and return the ashes to me in about 3 weeks. Her ashes will then be scattered half from Catalina Island and half from Plaskett Creek beach near Big Sur."



Kage was probably best known for her 'company' series of novels about a 24th century corporation that can gift nanotech-based immortality on people in the past in return for their service to the company (saving valuable objects that would otherwise be lost to the march of history). The Empress of Mars was a particular favourite of ours at the Nest.

Her last novel, Not Less Than Gods, is coming out in April 2010, from my own U.S. publisher, Tor.

While being a company novel, Not Less Than Gods is also described as a steampunk story of the young life of Edward Fairfax, who lives in a secretly steampunk-ish version of Victorian England, and in a Europe filled with covert and hidden advanced technologies. Edward is an idealist, and as he grows into manhood, it becomes apparent that he is some kind of superman. Edward the idealistic assassin, perhaps the most dangerous man alive.

Goodbye, Kage, you'll be missed. Your work lives on... you'll find our list of reviews and news items about Kage on the Sci-Fi Encyclopedia over here.