Умерла сестра писателя Гэри Вестфала, ставшая неофициальным другом научной фантастики

By Gary Westfahl: This week, my older sister Brenda Gail Bright passed away at the age of 78. Her connections to science fiction were minimal. First, while attending Vassar College, she met a Yale student named George Alec Effinger, who told her that he wanted to become a science fiction writer, and he actually did, having a long and productive career, though one marred by illness. They were never romantically involved, but they became friends and later corresponded with each other, so she was able to obtain his answers to some questions relayed from her younger brother with an interest in science fiction. Somewhere in my closet is a letter to Brenda from Effinger offering his thoughts about the long non-appearance of Harlan Ellison’s The Last Dangerous Visions. (He reported that Ellison had bought three of his stories, one of them he thought was embarrassingly awful, and none of them ultimately appeared in the posthumously assembled anthology.) Effinger also Tuckerized her in his story “Naked to the Invisible Eye” (1973) by naming one character Westfahl, since he came to know her as Brenda Westfahl. A scholar examining the story today might assume from the unusual spelling that he was referencing me, but it was actually a tribute to Brenda. He would regularly send her copies of his books, which she then gave to me to add to my collection, because she was never interested in holding on to possessions. Four of them contained written comments from Effinger: he wrote in Irrational Numbers (1976) “For Brenda – this book (which has the single most disgusting cover art in the history of mankind) as a kind of solace while you live near Cleveland – with affection, George Alec Effinger.” In Heroics (1980), he wrote “For Brenda, with the fondest memories of listening to WABC in your room – George Alec Effinger 10/20/80.” In When Gravity Fails (1988), he wrote “Brenda – look out for this one: It’s not a cute, funny little book – Alec 11/15/88.” And in A Fire in the Sun (1989), he wrote “To Brenda – It’s always ‘scribble, scribble.’ Love, Alec.” She also loved to watch old science fiction films, so a regular topic that came up in emails was her discovery of some terrible but strangely endearing clunker, which I could respond to knowledgeably because such films are one of my specialties. She liked reading my film reviews for Locus Online and especially appreciated my review of Alien Trespass (2009), an overlooked film that merits some appreciation. As Christmas gifts, she used to send me Star Trek coffee cups, three of which I still have; my favorite one shows Kirk, Spock, and McCoy standing in the transporter, and when the cup is heated with hot coffee, they vanish. She later sent me two more expensive items that now hang in frames on my office wall: a limited edition print of Superman by artist Curt Swan, and an envelope with the first-day issue of a Star Trek stamp featuring the signatures of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I dedicated one of my books, William Gibson (2013), to her and her husband Terry Bright. Of course, she had other interests besides science fiction films. She was an inveterate traveler, as she and Terry often journeyed to places all around the globe; she always attended her Vassar class reunions; and she was constantly reading books on many subjects, including of course Effinger’s science fiction. Whenever I visited, we played games of Scrabble, which Terry usually won, though Brenda and I were competitive. For a long time, she had a special interest in the Titanic, and she would attend conventions bringing together other people fascinated by the doomed ocean liner; she even published one article describing the films about the Titanic. If she has any significance to the field of science fiction, it is as a reminder that there are innumerable people out there who have no relationship to the science fiction community and offer no input in its print and online publications, but are nevertheless devoted to science fiction and exercise their own form of influence in the books they choose to read or check out from libraries and the films they choose to watch in theatres or online. Such people may also provide helpful support for the science fiction writers that they knew, as I am sure that Effinger enjoyed his correspondence with an old friend from his college days. Even though she was unknown and unheralded to fans of the genre, Brenda was a friend of science fiction, and I will miss her very much. Discover more from File 770 Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.