Sterling E. Lanier; sci-fi writer
Hyfler/Rosner
Prescient author of 'Hiero's Journey'
The Independent
11 July 2007
John Clute
Sterling Edmund Lanier, writer and editor: born New York 18
December 1927; twice married (one son, one daughter); died
Sarasota, Florida 28 June 2007.
The science-fiction writer Sterling E. Lanier may go down in
literary history for one moment of fame. In 1965, during a
stint as editor at Chilton Books, a smallish Philadelphia
publisher, he championed the publication of Frank Herbert's
Dune, a galaxy-spanning, philosophically ambitious
ecological drama which has sold hugely over the decades,
inspiring many imitations and at least one film.
But in truth, the man himself is far more than a footnote in
another's brilliant career. Sterling Edmund Lanier had a
full and ample life. He served in the US Army in the Second
World War. He graduated from Harvard University in 1951, and
spent five years at the University of Philadelphia
(1953-58), becoming active as an archaeological/
anthropological researcher, in which capacity he worked at
the Winterthur Museum, 1958-60.
Lanier began publishing science fiction in 1961, publishing
six books before leaving the field in 1986. In later years
he worked as a sculptor - some of his work being exhibited
at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington - and jeweller.
He lived for many years in Florida. He was amiable, ironic,
witty, resigned.
His first adult novel is by far his most important work.
Hiero's Journey (1973), is set in a not-unfamiliar Ruined
Earth environment five millennia after a nuclear "event".
The questing hero of the tale progresses through a world
irradiated by strangeness, and oppressed by recidivist
technologists caught in a state of profound denial about the
appallingness of their ancestors's deeds. Opposing them is
the Brotherhood of the Eleventh Commandment. The commandment
is simple: "Thou shalt not despoil the Earth and the life
thereon." The tale is supple and swift and compelling. For
those familiar with it, Hiero's Journey remains
unforgettable; and seems more and more prescient.
Other work - notably The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier
Ffellowes (1972), a set of club stories in the mode of Lord
Dunsany - shares Lanier's remarkable grasp of story-telling
technique, and the quiet luxuriance of his wit. Together,
his life and his books constitute a small, sharp, pleasing
footnote in the story of American letters in the 20th
century.
John Clute
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