Hal's most famous novel is, of course, Mission of Gravity. The planet Mesklin is a gigantic, fast-spinning world with gravity varying hugely from poles to equator. The story is told from the viewpoint of a native adventurer and a human companion trekking across its surface. It was after chatting with Hal this summer that I finally got to read this fascinating book.

Hal wrote two more Mesklin novels, Close to Critical and Star Light. Other novels included Iceworld, Cycle of Fire, The Nitrogen Fix, Still River, and Half Life.

Hal's most recent novel, Noise, was published earlier this year by Tor Books. He was reportedly working on something new at the time of his death.

Harry Clement Stubbs is survived by his wife of over fifty years, Mary, and his children George and Richard Stubbs and Christine Heusel.

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Recommended

The ultimate New Wave SF novel by the ultimate New Wave SF writer. Dhalgren is a book like no other--a wondrous meditation on language, identity and sexuality played out against a catastrophe of (literally) unimaginable proportions. This is a difficult and at times frustrating novel, but its meaning gradually emerges, almost subliminally, in the manner of a great poem whose surface meaning eludes us, but which reverberates in consciousness ever after.