Yesterday I learned that Martin H. Greenberg passed away. He was one of the great anthologists of SF and fantasy, and I cannot tell you how many of his collections I’ve read over the years. As a boy, I discovered him from his work with Isaac Asimov, and I always marveled at how often his name cropped up since then and how many fantastic authors he worked with.
While I was in college, I heard about him as a teacher from my pal Blaze Miskulin, who took classes from Dr. Greenberg at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. I had some great profs in school, but that one made me jealous.
Recently, I had a short story published in Hot & Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance, which Dr. Greenberg edited, along with Jean Rabe. I worked directly with Jean on the project and had no real contact with him, but it still gave me a thrill to see his name on the cover of an anthology in which some of my work appeared.
Dr. Greenberg brought a lot of happiness, knowledge, and fun to his authors, students, and readers. My deepest condolences, though, to his friends and family, who will miss him far more than the rest of us. We’re all poorer without him.
