# Hail the Tripod! (John Christopher has died) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009 "2012-02-06T20:35:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/1 "2012-02-06T20:35:28Z")
John Christopher, the unreasonably awesome author of the Tripod young-adult novels, has died. [John Christopher (1922-2012) – Locus Online](http://www.locusmag.com/News/2012/02/samuel-youd-aka-john-christopher-1922-2012/) Sad day. On the other hand, has anyone seen that new cartoon? I find I feel rather better about the whole thing after watching that. I expect I’ll be sending away for one of the official fan hats shortly. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/2 "2012-02-06T21:58:54Z")
R.I.P., Mr. Youd. The Tripods books were the very first sci-fi novels I ever read…I first learned about them on the PBS show “Cover to Cover”, and devoured them when I found them at the library (I was probably 10 or so). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/3 "2012-02-06T21:58:41Z")
A sad loss. I remember reading the Tripod books as a child and liking them. But the Christopher work that most affected me was _The Death of Grass_. I read that when I was about 13 and I was terrified by it. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/4 "2012-02-06T22:07:23Z")
Sorry to hear this. I am a big fan of his. I loved _The Tripods_ and sought out his other books after reading it. I highly recommend _The Guardians_, and _The Death of Grass_ is another favourite. I suppose they’re all variations on the same post-apocalyptic theme, but it’s a theme that fascinates me, and when it comes to post-apocalyptic stories, he’s the guvnor. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/5 "2012-02-06T22:10:12Z")
Now his son will never get to Saturn. (Explanation: The Air Force pilot who the Enterprise beamed aboard in **Tomorrow is Yesterday** was named John Christopher. In Blish’s version of the story he has Spock, after doing a history computer check, mention that there is a well-know writer by that name but it is a pen name; you are not he. Blish was living in England then so I suppose he had to give a shout out. ) ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/6 "2012-02-06T22:11:26Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > A sad loss. I remember reading the Tripod books as a child and liking them. But the Christopher work that most affected me was _The Death of Grass_. I read that when I was about 13 and I was terrified by it. I would love to read that but it’s out of print and impossible to find. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/7 "2012-02-06T22:16:21Z")
The Tripod books were some of my favorites growing up. I sought them out and re-read them within the past decade, and they were still awesome. Never read the others that y’all mentioned, and will seek them out. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/8 "2012-02-06T23:52:54Z")
I greatly enjoyed his books as a kid. I am honestly a little surprised he was still alive though. His first novel was from so long ago, I thought he was even older then his 89 and 89 is pretty good in and of itself. I might need to track down some of his books and reread them. Anyone recall the name of the book he wrote involving Arthur? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/9 "2012-02-07T00:28:37Z")
> [@Zjestika](#): > > I would love to read that but it’s out of print and impossible to find. [Paperback version](http://www.amazon.com/Death-Grass-Alpha-Books-Christopher/dp/0194242323) for a little over US$10. \ Well, crap, it says it’s an abridged version. Who abridges SF novels? Sorry about that. [Here are some more listings](http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0140013008/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&condition=all). No mention of abridged in them. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/10 "2012-02-07T00:37:54Z")
My intro to the tripods was in the Boy’s Life serialization. Very interesting to this preteen. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/11 "2012-02-07T01:31:12Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > My intro to the tripods was in the Boy’s Life serialization. Very interesting to this preteen. Mine was also, back in the mid-1980s, a year or two before I was a teenager. I loved them, and sought and read almost all of his YA science fiction, and then much of his earlier adult “cozy catastrophe” science fiction. He was my favorite author from when I was about 12 to about 15 or 16. I had been expecting he’d be passing any time now, and regularly have checked the “Recent Deaths” section on Wikipedia. A couple years after the Boy’s Life serialization, I found the live action BBC series based on the _Tripods_ trilogy on my local NPR channel and loved, LOVED it. It unfortunately was expensive to make, so only made it about 2/3rds of the way through the trilogy before being cancelled (with some substantial deviations). The Ken Freeman soundtrack still gets semi-regular play in my music collection. If you liked _No Blade of Grass_, be sure to check out the decent 1970 movie with the same name, and his YA novel _Empty World_. If you liked the _Tripods_ trilogy, you will probably appreciate the similar epic nature of his _Sword of the Spirits_ trilogy (also YA science fiction). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hail-the-tripod-john-christopher-has-died/612009/12 "2012-02-07T02:42:22Z")
> [@Zjestika](#): > > I would love to read that but it’s out of print and impossible to find. Penguin reprinted it in 2009 and it’s readily available: [Book Depository](http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Death-Grass-John-Christopher/9780141190174) [Amazon](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Grass-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141190175/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328582410&sr=1-1)