On December 24, 2023, author Richard Bowes died at age 79. Bowes, whose novels and short stories often took place in alternate, sometimes magically infused versions of New York City, was a fixture of the city’s speculative literary scene, with his works earning eight Nebula nominations, two World Fantasy Awards for “If Angels Fight” (2008) and “Streetcar Dreams” (1997)—making him one of only five authors to win that award more than once—a Lambda Literary Award for Minions of the Moon (1999), and the International Horror Guild Award for “There’s a Hole in the City,” which he wrote in 2005 after witnessing the Twin Towers fall on September 11, 2001.
Richard Dirrane Bowes was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 8, 1944. He moved to Manhattan in 1965 after taking classes at Hofstra University and lived in the city in the decades after. His first novel, Warchild, was published in 1986. He went on to publish several more novels, but is best known for his short stories, particularly “There’s a Hole in the City.”
“Just heard Richard Bowes died on the 24th,” horror author Paul Jessup wrote on Twitter. “Fucking hell. This is a hard one, we talked back and forth over the years, was a great guy. The whole genre landscape will never be the same now that he’s gone. To read him is to know him, so read this.”
Jessup linked to “There’s a Hole in the City,” which was also the subject of Bowes’ last Tweet on September 11, 2020. “19 years later I am still amazed at having watched the fall of the towers from an NYU building,” he wrote. “This story I wrote about my experience a few years later I decided to digitize today.” You can hear the an audio version of “There’s a Hole in the City” here or read it here.
Bowes had an impact on several other authors and was a trailblazer in writing speculative queer fiction. “Speculative fiction wasn’t always this queer,” Sam J. Miller wrote on Twitter. “For a long time, there were only a handful of folks holding it down. Rick Bowes blazed his own trail, writing brilliant weird queer haunted tales his own way…”
Speculative fiction wasn't always this queer. For a long time, there were only a handful of folks holding it down. Rick Bowes blazed his own trail, writing brilliant weird queer haunted tales his own way… pic.twitter.com/f1rjjMuMQv
— Sam J. Miller³ (@sentencebender) December 27, 2023
Horror writer Paul Tremblay also commended Bowes on Twitter: “Very sorry to hear of the passing of Richard Bowes, who was a wonderful writer and person,” he wrote. “My deepest condolences to his many, many friends.”
“Hell of a writer, hell of a guy, Richard Bowes,” wrote Jeff VanderMeer after the news of the author’s passing broke. “Always fun, always an adventure to meet. A devilish sense of humor and I loved the back and forth of jokes and laughter. RIP.”
Writer and editor Scott Edelman, who interviewed Bowes on his podcast, had this to say about Bowes on Bluesky: “Heartbroken to learn of the death of Richard Bowes, brilliant both in person and on the page. If you’ve never had the privilege of meeting him, you can experience his wit and wisdom on an episode of Eating the Fantastic… which I’m going to do myself right now.”
You can also read one of his novelettes, 2014’s Sleep Walking Now and Then, at the link here.
