Thomas M. Disch never had a large mainstream following but was considered one of the most important sci-fi authors of his generation. He wrote nonfiction and poetry, as well as "The Brave Little Toaster," made into a Disney movie.

Disch, 68, who has been called one of the most important science fiction writers of his generation, fatally shot himself in the head July 5, according to the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Friends said he was found dead inside his New York apartment.

Disch also wrote poetry, drama criticism, book reviews, opera librettos, plays, children's books and an interactive computer novel.

"Tom Disch is one of the few people I have ever met who I would consider a genius," said Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. "He was like a brilliant child in the richness of his imagination, although certainly no child had as dark and twisted an imagination as Tom did."

Critic John Clute once wrote that Disch was "perhaps the most respected, least trusted, most envied and least read of all modern first-rank SF writers."

The home he shared for years with his partner, Charles Naylor, allowed friends to see a whimsical, humorous side. Disch was "an enormously creative, infinitely amusing and often unhappy genius," said Gioia, who is also a poet and had known Disch for many years.

As a poet, Disch wrote in standard forms: sonnets, villanelles, epigrams, "always clever and full of wordplay," said Thomas Heacox, who teaches English at College of William and Mary, where Disch served as a writer-in-residence in the 1990s.

In recent years Disch suffered a series of problems: Naylor died, health and financial issues ensued, and Disch battled to remain in his apartment.

--Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2008