I've noticed that when famous authors pass, their fans often express the wish that they find themselves in the worlds they created. When Douglas Adams died, all sorts of folks said they "hoped to catch you at Milliways," or the like. Again with Pterry, plenty of people hoped he would "swim with Great A'Tuin" or "visit Ankh-Morpork. To which I reply ( Read more... )

In a better world, one where the profit motive was secondary to emotional well-being, and where our emotions functioned in more predictable ways, employees would be allowed to submit a bereavement list: a list of people whose deaths are, no questions asked, grounds for an employee to immediately go home and mourn. Of course, that's not the world we ( Read more... )

Usually when I weep quietly at my desk, it's because of my job. But today, we lost a legend, and a beloved elder of the sf tribe ( Read more... )

A strange way to headline a memorial post, I suppose, but it will make sense eventually. Anne McCaffrey, author of the Pern books, passed away today at the age of 85. Like with David Eddings, I suppose I shouldn't be so sad. She had a full rich life, and I hadn't willingly picked up one of her new books since Masterharper of Pern more than a decade ( Read more... )

This has been a pretty shitty year on the "people I don't want dying doing it anyway" front. Of course, one of life's most bitter ironies is that as you get older and collect friends, acquaintances, and favorites, pretty much every year is a pretty shitty year on that front. I mention this not only because I'm morbid by nature, but because Joel ( Read more... )

Got into an argument on a message board once. Someone had posted about the death of a member of the Dave Matthews Band and someone else gave him grief for his excessive reaction to the passing of someone he didn't know. My response was that there are many different types of relationship and that a feeling of closeness that only went one way, like ( Read more... )

Frank Buckles died yesterday at the ripe old age of 110. Apparently, from his obituary, Mr. Buckles was a pretty remarkable man, who traveled the world well into his 50s and then retired to be a farmer, a job he took seriously enough to still be riding a tractor at 104. But what makes Mr. Buckles' passing noteworthy is his first job, Corporal Frank ( Read more... )

Crap. Brian Jacques died ( Read more... )

My thoughts on the aftermath of the Giffords shooting are pretty chaotic. First of all, a nine-year-old girl died because she was precocious and intelligent enough to be interested in politics and so wanted to meet her Congresswoman. That's just hearrbreakingly sad and horrible. Another one is that people of all sides are yelling for people on ( Read more... )

So, George Steinbrenner, after being in declining health for several years and handing control of the Yankees over to his sons, passed away today at the age of 80. It's hard to describe the welter of emotions the news set off, because he was so many things: tyrant, fan, loudmouth, philanthropist, father figure, big brother, friend, enemy, lifeline ( Read more... )