On This Day: Chad Oliver Died

On this day in  1993, Symmes Chadwick ‘Chad’ Oliver died in Austin, Texas.

An anthropologist and writer, Chad Oliver was born in Ohio but spent most of his life in Texas, where he studied for his MA. He later took a PhD in anthropology at the University of California, which lead to his appointment as a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. Oliver’s SF work reflected both his professional training and personal roots: much of it is set in the outdoors of the US Southwest and most of his characters are deeply involved in outdoor activities. He was also always concerned with the depiction of Native American life. To quote The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

The Wolf is My Brother (1967), which is not sf, features a sympathetically characterized Native American protagonist. Most of Oliver’s sf, too, could be thought of as Westerns of the sort that eulogize the land and the people who survive in it.

Gateway is delighted to publish Chad Oliver’s SF work, which you can find via his Author page on the Gateway website.  For those looking for a place to start, we recommend the two-volume selection of his best short fiction: