My wife read the first of John Christopher’s trilogy, The Prince in Waiting ~ Beyond the Burning Lands ~ The Sword of the Spirits, and wanted to know what the next book was, not even knowing this was a series. I called on the powers of the Interweb to answer our query, and behold, I learned the author died last month. Sci-fi Author John Christopher (born Sam Youd of Knowsley, U.K.) died February 3, 2012. He was the author of the Tripod series, which is a neat set of books and good, though incomplete, BBC series. Apparently, this is only one set of post-apocalyptic stories he wrote.

In the Guardian’s obituary, they report: “Youd had an unusual way of working. He did a quick first draft of the opening chapter, but for the remainder typed a ‘final’ version, with several carbon copies. When he had completed the book he would go back and redraft the first chapter.”