We’re saddened to report that author Victor Milán passed away yesterday. Milán’s work spanned genre: he moved easily between westerns, historical fiction, and action adventure, but it was in science fiction and fantasy that he made his largest mark, with Cybernetic Samurai (which won the Prometheus Award in 1986) and Cybernetic Shogun, and of course with the Dinosaur Lords series. He was also active in several shared-universe series, including Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, and George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series. Martin wrote a tribute to Milán, even calling him “the father of Wild Cards”:

He was also a Wild Cards writer, of course; one of my aces. In a sense he was the father of Wild Cards. It was Vic who gave me the Superworld game as a birthday present back in 1983, and it was those long long nights of playing Superworld that eventually inspired me to start Wild Cards.

From Tor Books editor Claire Eddy:

When I heard the news about Vic Milan’s passing I was filled with a great sadness. There now won’t be any more amazing stories from this incredible writer. And the universe got smaller. One of the happier experiences I have had in the last couple of years was getting to work with Vic on his Dinosaur books. And selfishly, being able to indulge my former self–that little girl who played with knights and dinosaurs and was called a weirdo for it. Vic reminded me that kid lives inside so many of us…and weren’t we the lucky ones to be able to bring those dreams out into the world. I sent a fond thought out to my friend on his next adventure.

You can read the rest of Martin’s tribute here. Victor Milán will be greatly missed.