# Jerry Pournelle has died. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853 "2017-09-09T00:21:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/21 "2017-09-09T12:47:00Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Looking at Chaos Manner now. I see that he was posting as recently as 2 days ago. His last message to the world? [Trump apologetics](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/dreamers/). Meh. Offering alternative suggestions on a path to citizenship for people brought here as children and acknowledging a need to find relief from deportation for their parents as well is pretty mild “Trump apologetics.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/22 "2017-09-09T14:41:35Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Meh. Offering alternative suggestions on a path to citizenship for people brought here as children and acknowledging a need to find relief from deportation for their parents as well is pretty mild “Trump apologetics.” No, the Trump apologetics was saying that Trump doesn’t _want_ to deport the Dreamers, he has no choice, because Obama’s EO was unconstitutional and Trump _must_ obey the law. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/23 "2017-09-09T15:24:36Z")
And of course now he has the perfect excuse for not finishing the _Janissaries_ series. Bastard. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/24 "2017-09-09T15:28:51Z")
Not wishing to participate in a thread derailment but doesn’t _every_ President decide, through underlings, etc., which laws are going to be enforced and which aren’t. I seem to recall that Ronald Reagan didn’t enforce anti-trust laws too vigorously. It’s called setting priorities. No one has mentioned “Legacy of Heorot” yet. Also, in the political realm, he did come up with the “Pournelle Axes”, an attempt to look at political positioning in a manner beyond the traditional left-right dichotomy. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/25 "2017-09-09T16:06:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Jerry was a total asshole, but he was an _honest_ asshole. An honest asshole is still an asshole. Since I’ve never had the ‘pleasure’ of talking with him, I’ll just enjoy his writing without the excess baggage. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/26 "2017-09-09T16:20:10Z")
The first I ever heard of him was way back in The Avalon Hill General, where he and Jim Dunnigan had a letters-column debate over the role of strategic air power in WWII. Pournelle’s education as a historian served him well there…and ever since. One of my favorites of his is King David’s Spaceship, which nicely showcases his historical education. (Also one of the more astonishing spaceship designs… From an engineering standpoint, holy cow!) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/27 "2017-09-09T17:37:05Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > No one has mentioned “Legacy of Heorot” yet. From what Jerry wrote on his blog, the third book from Avalon is/was mostly done. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/28 "2017-09-09T17:44:23Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > From what Jerry wrote on his blog, the third book from Avalon is/was mostly done. Don’t know how I feel about that. IMO, _Legacy_ was pretty good but _Beowulf’s Children_ sucked grendel balls. Oh, well. I’ll always have _Oath of Fealty_ to remember him by. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/29 "2017-09-09T19:48:58Z")
Jerry may have passed on, but The Colonel will live on forever. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/30 "2017-09-10T01:42:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t know how I feel about that. IMO, _Legacy_ was pretty good but _Beowulf’s Children_ sucked grendel balls. > > Oh, well. I’ll always have _Oath of Fealty_ to remember him by. Book 3: Company is coming. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/31 "2017-09-10T06:13:14Z")
Is it true what I’ve heard, that in his books with Niven, one of them wrote the humans, and the other wrote the aliens? And if so, which did what? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/32 "2017-09-10T12:30:16Z")
Huh, I thought _Legacy of Heorot_ was just Niven and Barnes, not all three of them. And _Oath of Fealty_ was one of the stinkers I mentioned. First they get this great idea for this concept called a “city”, except for some reason they don’t think it’s called a city, and then they go and have absolutely everyone in the book do completely stupid things just because that’s the only way to make the plot move. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/33 "2017-09-10T13:58:43Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Is it true what I’ve heard, that in his books with Niven, one of them wrote the humans, and the other wrote the aliens? And if so, which did what? From **Niven’s Laws** , “Collaboration” - _Jerry handles politics, warfare and conversations among large groups of people better than I do, while I run aliens and oddballs and small, revealing conversations. A hero working his was through a sea of troubles on sheer guts, is Jerry’s. Where a character gets hysterical, that’s me._ **Chronos** - To each his own. I also love the **Prince of Sparta/Falkenberg’s Legion** sequence, even if they _are_ filled with Jerry’s deranged politics. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/34 "2017-09-10T22:31:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t know how I feel about that. IMO, _Legacy_ was pretty good but _Beowulf’s Children_ sucked grendel balls… Good for me to hear. I hadn’t read that one yet. I found them (and Larry too, TBH) hit or miss in later years. I am looking forward to someone like Brandon Stephenson (sp?) finishing up the not-sequel to Lucifer’s Hammer that he and Larry were working on. Although, Niven could stick with Matthew Harrington, if _The Goliath Stone_ exemplifies their co-authoring, and I’d be happy. I deliberately did not discuss Pournelle’s politics here; just that he was a giant of sci-fi, and now he’s gone. I love reading all of everybody’s stories of interacting with him. I was really looking forward to _Exapno Mapcase_ chiming in, given IIRC, that s/he had a large role with SFWA at some point. Silenus, I think there’a a passage in something like N-Space, where Niven comments that, if you want the calculations on what kind of tidal wave will result from X size rock hitting near Santa Monica, Jerry wrote that, but if you liked ‘elephants hang gliding under paper airplanes, wearing bright pink elevator shoes,’ that was Larry. Need to find the exact quote. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/35 "2017-09-10T23:43:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t know how I feel about that. IMO, _Legacy_ was pretty good but _Beowulf’s Children_ sucked grendel balls. I didn’t like “Beowulf’s Children” but I still thought it was better than “Escape from Hell”, the sequel to “Inferno” (which is one of my favourites). I didn’t like “The Gripping Hand” either, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/36 "2017-09-11T00:04:28Z")
_Beowulf’s Children_ was certainly a very different book from _The Legacy of Heorot_. I liked both of them, but I could very easily see how someone else could like either one but not the other. And are you sure it sucked grendel balls? Grendel ovaries are so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/37 "2017-09-11T00:05:01Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Good for me to hear. I hadn’t read that one yet. I found them (and Larry too, TBH) hit or miss in later years. I am looking forward to someone like Brandon Stephenson (sp?) finishing up the not-sequel to Lucifer’s Hammer that he and Larry were working on. > > Although, Niven could stick with Matthew Harrington, if _The Goliath Stone_ exemplifies their co-authoring, and I’d be happy. > > I deliberately did not discuss Pournelle’s politics here; just that he was a giant of sci-fi, and now he’s gone. > > I love reading all of everybody’s stories of interacting with him. I was really looking forward to _Exapno Mapcase_ chiming in, given IIRC, that s/he had a large role with SFWA at some point. > > Silenus, I think there’a a passage in something like N-Space, where Niven comments that, if you want the calculations on what kind of tidal wave will result from X size rock hitting near Santa Monica, Jerry wrote that, but if you liked ‘elephants hang gliding under paper airplanes, wearing bright pink elevator shoes,’ that was Larry. > > Need to find the exact quote. Larry put a surfer on a tidal wave. Jerry put an apartment building in front of him. I’ve set myself a task of rereading all of Jerry’s work I have on hand, starting with Red Heroin (as Wade Curtis). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/38 "2017-09-11T00:33:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Larry put a surfer on a tidal wave. Jerry put an apartment building in front of him. By the way, last year, Larry and Jerry wrote a short story in that universe, which mentions the surfer - it was in Analog ([Title: Story Night at the Stronghold](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2019085)), called “Story Night at the Stronghold” ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/39 "2017-09-11T00:41:48Z")
Jerry’s “A Step Farther Out” got me writing science fiction. I liked his collaboration with Niven more than his individual stuff, but as a speculative nonfiction article writer, he was incredible. He will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853/40 "2017-09-11T17:49:30Z")
_The Mote in God’s Eye_ is still one of my all-time-favorite first contact novels, and I remember _Lucifer’s Hammer_ and _Footfall_ being pretty good reads back in the day. Thanks for all you wrote, Jerry, and may you rest in peace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-pournelle-has-died/795853.md?page=3)