Robert Paul Holdstock, British fantasy's leading light, died in London on 29 November, aged 61. He was struck down by a severe E.coli infection on 18 November and fought on in intensive care until Sunday. The thoughts of those of us who treasure his writing go out to his family and friends.
Although best known for his mythic fantasy, Robert Holdstock also wrote science fiction (Eye Among the Blind) and horror (The Fetch), amongst others. But it is for his fantasy that Robert Holdstock received wide recognition, notably for the outstanding Mythago Wood cycle of novels and most recently the Merlin Codex series. Mythago Wood won the BSFA Award for Best Novel (1984) and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1985) and its sequel, Lavondyss, won the BSFA Award for Best Novel (1988).
In
a genre dominated by J.R.R. Tolkien and overstuffed with vastly inferior imitations, Robert Holdstock achieved what few others could: original fantasy that is not derivative or imitative of Tolkien's writing, but which possesses the same profound depth of imagination, thought and power to evoke landscape. More truly than any other author, Robert Holdstock deserves to be recognised as Tolkien's literary successor.
Almost as unusual, Holdstock's fantasy is genuinely and satisfyingly intelligent, built as it is on a bedrock of science (psychology and the ideas of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell for instance) and though this doesn't intrude into the storytelling - Holdstock was too masterful a storyteller for that - it does provide depth and substance, rewarding each re-reading with new insights.
At 61, Robert Holdstock was too young to journey alone into the heart of the Wood never to return, and while we will never again travel in his company along uncharted pathways, his writing does remain, and it will stand as testament to his life far better than any stone monument ever could.
Our 
