Sad news today. Sakyo Komatsu, author of the classic Japan Sinks, has died at the age of eighty. Japan Sinks is one of the most important SF novels to be translated into English from the Japanese, and it combines the scientific rigor of hard SF with the sort of social speculation and commentary one might otherwise find in the work of writers such as J.G. Ballard. Condolences to all his family, friends, and fans