(1927-2010) US editor and writer who also worked with the Peace Corps and as a political manager. Several of his sf novels focus on DISASTERS, beginning with his first, The Swarm (1974), which convincingly posits an ecological catastrophe when the African honey-bee mutates and invades North America (> ECOLOGY; HIVE MINDS), eventually besieging NEW YORK. It was filmed by Irwin ALLEN. Partly based on fact (African bees have indeed bred with South American bees to form a large and belligerent hybrid), the novel is well researched and written, as are Earthsound (1975), in which a seismologist attempts to warn sceptical New Englanders of an approaching earthquake and is thought to be merely hysterical, and Heat (1977; rev 1989), an early attempt to deal with the greenhouse effect (> CLIMATE CHANGE). In later novels, Herzog moved less convincingly towards SATIRE. In IQ 83 (1978) an attempt to retune DNA predictably backfires, reducing the INTELLIGENCE of those treated to the titular level, and the America series – Make Us Happy (1978) and Glad to Be Here (1979) – takes him shakily into the realms of DYSTOPIA, as COMPUTERS threaten the good life. Beyond Sci-Fi (coll 2007 pod) collects previously unpublished stories. [PN/JC]
died Southampton, New York: 26 May 2010