Gene Wolfe passed away last month, aged 87 - unique SF writer, a master of the form. Sad news as I've read his stuff since I was 14 - understanding nothing at the time but just being captivated by the worlds he created.
American science fiction writer whose work contained haunted, potent myths about human destiny
www.theguardian.com
Hard to describe his writing, he's sort of in his own category, but one thing he did that had a lot of impact was perfect the idea of forgotten knowledge and decay - (he's often compared with Jack Vance and his Dying Earth, although their styles are very different). You see this idea a lot with modern SF writers so it doesn't feel that special now, but Wolfe did it like no one else before or since. His masterpiece is the Book of the New Sun which is set so far into the future that mankind has invented interstellar travel, explored the universe, then largely forgotten how to do it. Resulting atmosphere of the book is amazing - very dreamlike and sad.
He leaves behind a large body of work - he was also a prolific short story writer. Not the most accessible, tbh, and quite a polarising style [he frequently takes the idea of an unreliable narrator and takes it way way past the point most authors go with it], but if it clicks for you then there's no other writer like him.
