The USA author Ursula K. LeGuin has died.
It really is the end of a generation.
A vanguard of women writers took on the challenge, decades ago,
of competing with the largely white male authors of science fiction.
The literature has never been the same since.

That whole group of intrepid writers who happened to be women --
Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley . . .
and LeGuin was the last of them.

LeGuin could be like a living reproach.
Relentlessly moral and humane, yet keenly aware of nature.
Her prose seemed so simple but that style is so difficult to master.
AND she raised a family and stayed married to the same spouse the whole time.

Safe Journey Home, Talespinner.