Remembering Mike Glicksohn
I realized this morning that I don't take enough pictures. I have all these images of Mike in my head... Mike laughing, Mike playing poker, Mike at conventions, Mike sitting on the edge of the pool at Spacecon, Mike at home, Mike beaming at his and Susan's wedding, Mike and Susan eating brunch on our deck... and almost none of them are anywhere but in my head.
I have a lot of images of Mike in my head.
I'm sure he was at Ozymandius in 1978 (it was my first Toronto con and my second sf con ever) because we knew each other by Torcon in the summer of 1980 but Torcon was the first convention I remember ever spending time with Mike as a friend, so that's where I'm counting from.
I remember early Mikecons where we always seemed to end up at the Old Spahetti Factory and I have a very clear image of Mike and Steve Leigh laughing while the group of us waited for our table.
I remember him laughing with glee when I bluffed out a hand of ananconda and took the pot. He'd lost money to me as well that time, but he was thrilled that I'd finally learned to play the game instead of just the cards.
In 1986 when my first book came out, I was terrified that no one would come to the signing. When I came out of the back room at Bakka, there was Mike, right at the front of the line. I signed my very first book, ever, to Mike. It was Mike who made me feel like I'd really done it. And he didn't even like fantasy.
Mike was responsible for the Mictok in the Valor books. He bought a character at a charity auction and told me he wanted to die by giant spider. Well, I already had the antagonist so Sergeant Glicksohn -- who had problems with depiltories and played poker in the storeroom and found out what the Silviss liked to drink pretty much right after they landed -- died defending a giant spider. Close enough, we agreed, for space opera.
Mike never taught me math -- although I did once watch him put an infant Megan Leigh to sleep by explaining diferential equations to her. I know what kind of a teacher he was though. You couldn't go anywhere in Toronto with him without half a dozen ex-students calling out greetings and wanting to talk. Think about it: How many of your ex-teachers would you be excited to meet in the Eaton's Center?
When we made it back to Mikecon after moving out of the city, Mike made that three hour drive worthwhile by being so damned happy to see us. He had a way of making everyone who showed up feel like they were the best thing about the day.
These are some of the photos of Mike I could find...
With Sid in 1981.
At the signing for Sing the Four Quarters in 1994
In all honesty, I have no idea but I'm guessing late '90s early new milenium.
This is the last photo I have of him at the the last Mikecon we managed to get to.
In a world that values conformity, Mike was enthusiastically himself. Without him, the world has a Mike-shaped hole that all the images of him and stories about him will never be able to fill.
My deepest sympathy to Susan who lost her other half.