Well, dammit.
Science fiction writer Jay Lake has died.
I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, but I've followed his blog for years. (I tried reading one of his books, Kalimpura, but that particular book didn't click with me. When his last compilation of short stories comes out later this year, I'll try again.) He'd been fighting colon cancer for years, and his exhaustive blogging of that journey is one of the most important things I've ever read. His willingness to lay bare every thought and emotion about the process of treatment, the trials of surgery and chemo, the frustrations of fighting with his insurance company when he should have been concentrating on his health, are heartbreaking and awe-inspiring, and now so bittersweet. I hope, someday, those blog entries are compiled into a book; it would be an amazing thing to help all of us as we go gently (or not) into that good night.
Matthew Cheney expresses this very well here.
John Scalzi's tribute here.
Rest in peace, Jay. The number of lives you touched is incredible. We won't forget.
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