I was going to do a post about writing, about juggling different parts of being a writer and having a day job, but then three pretty big things happened in the last few weeks.
First, Leonard Nimoy died at the age of 83. I’m sure I don’t have to explain who he was to anyone. I was going to try and write something about how important he is and was. I was going to try and write about how important Star Trek and the principles set out in the universe created by Gene Roddenberry are to me, but I’ve not been able to find the right words. In the end, Scott, my CBO podcast co-host and I, decided to talk about why we loved Trek, why it means so much to us and the impact the various shows had on us both growing up. I’m editing the podcast at the moment and it will be out on Sunday. We wanted to celebrate all of the awesome things about Star Trek and we highlighted some of our favourite moments, as well as how we were first introduced to Trek and what we think will happen to it in the future.
The second big thing that happened this week was a lot more personal. A friend passed away. It wasn’t expected, he wasn’t old and it has hit me like a real gut punch. I was dazed for a few days and felt very listless and just not with it. A few days later and I’m back in the real world, no longer out of phase with everyone else, but that will all change again I’m sure with the upcoming funeral next week.
The third thing that happened was this week Terry Pratchett died aged after a meagre 66 years. That’s not a good run at all. Given how long people are living these days, that’s nothing. I’m not the biggest fan of Pratchett’s work, but I am close to a number of people who are enormous fans of his. They own every single book and have met him a number of times. I’ve read a few of his books over the years and despite them not being my favourites I admired him enormously. He also essentially had his own genre of fiction in bookshops. You could write a satirical and amusing fantasy novel, but if you then tried to submit I doubt many publishers would take it on. In fact I doubt any would. That was his.
Putting his work with Alzheimer’s to one side and focusing purely on the creative, he was an incredibly sharp, witty and a very funny man. I believe he had a very strong moral code and this came through in every book. To an outsider at first glance his books were nothing more than wildly fantastic stories set on a flat world. But if anyone took even five minutes and scratched the surface they would see the many layers in each story. Over the years he developed a huge following of millions around the world because of who he was and his ability as a storyteller. I admired him for his wit, his creativity, his warmth, inclusiveness and sense of humour. Several people close to me have met him several times over the years and on each occasion he was friendly, funny and just a generally lovely man.
On one occasion I met David Gemmell at a talk and book signing before he passed away. I can’t remember where the story came from now, whether it was him telling the crowd or something Stan Nicholls recalled at a convention, but several years ago David and Terry were abroad somewhere (I think it was in Europe – maybe Vienna) on a book tour. Terry thought it was would be fun for them to get to their next appearance (a radio show interview), by themselves and what followed was an adventure that meant they arrived 50 minutes late to what should have been an hour’s interview on the radio. Despite my sketchy remembrance of the details the story by itself speaks to me of a man who enjoyed himself and enjoyed life.
They were remarkable men, doing remarkable things and both of them will be greatly missed.
Stephen Aryan 