KU master of sci-fi James Gunn, 93, publishes final book in trilogy

James Gunn, pictured in a June 2014 file photo, is a fixture in Lawrence. He is an author of more than 40 books and a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

At 93, Grand Master of Science Fiction and University of Kansas professor emeritus of English James Gunn has published the final novel in his Transcendental Machine trilogy.

The novel, “Transformation,” went on sale this week. The new book follows trilogy mates “Transcendental” (2013) and “Transgalactic” (2016), all published by Tor Books.

A tease from the publisher’s press release for “Transformation” reads: “Planets at the edge of the Federation have been falling mysteriously silent. The arrogant and recalcitrant bureaucracy running the Federation grudgingly allows two transcended humans, Riley and Asha, to investigate.”

Transformation, by James Gunn, was published in June 2017 by Tor Books. It's the final installment in a trilogy.

Midway through his work on the trilogy, in a 2015 Journal-World interview, Gunn said that for years much of his writing had been based on current events and took place closer to the present. He described the new trilogy as a return to the space epic, the style of novels he penned in the 1950s.

Praised as both a prolific author and influential scholar in the field of science fiction, Gunn is the founding director of KU’s Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. He began writing science fiction in 1948 while in graduate school, after serving in the Navy during World War II.

In 2015 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, alongside other inductees including the late author Kurt Vonnegut. Among other accolades, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America in 2007 named Gunn a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for lifetime achievement.

Gunn still writes daily but has, in his older age, changed his approach to creating his novels, he said in a KU news release this week. Namely, Gunn said he’s begun outlining ideas for each chapter first, then writing them later.

Gunn said good science fiction deals with unanticipated consequences, which he applied in “Transcendental” and which leads to the quest story’s sequels.

“A writer has to realize that even with the best intentions, some readers are going to expect what the book is not going to offer,” Gunn said, in KU’s release. “I try to prepare the reader for a kind of experience and ending that will be surprising but satisfying.”