Roger Zelazny, In Memorium
Original is here
It was with great sorrow that we found out about
Roger Zelazny's death. It happened just before we were going to
press, so we thought it appropriate to delay so we could inн
clude something. Following is the announcement George R.R. Marн
tin posted on GEnie's SF Roundtable and crossposted in
rec.arts.sf.written. To give us more time to prepare it, Garner
Johnson will be reprinting the interview he conducted with Zeн
lazny that originally appeared in PUP #1, March 1994 with a new
preface in the next issue.
"I have been asked to post the sad news that Roger Zeн
lazny died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Santa Fe early this afн
ternoon, of liver failure brought on by colon/rectal cancer.
Jane Lindskold, his beloved friend and companion of this past
year, was with him when he died, along with his son Trent, and
several of Roger's friends from the SF community. His other
children, his son Devon and his daughter Shannon, had sat with
him for much of the night.
"Roger had been fighting the disease with chemotherapy
since it was first diagnosed, and the tumor had been in remisн
sion for a year, but a few months ago his condition worsened.
Roger was an intensely private man, and told only family and a
few close friends of his illness. He remained hopeful and optiн
mistic until the last, and was writing right up until a few
days ago, and gaming with Jane and his friends from Santa Fe
and Albuquerque. He had recently completed an unfinished novel
based on a fragment left by Alfred Bester, had done a CD/ROM
game with Jane, and was hard at work on a major new science
fiction novel, "Donnerjack," which he was extremely excited
about.
"Many of us who knew Roger for a long time - myself inн
cluded - had never seen him happier or more full of life than
he had been during this past year.
"Roger had expressed the wish that his friends remember
him with a party rather than a religious service, and that is
indeed what we plan to do. Fred and Joan Saberhagen have kindly
donated their home, and a get-together will be held there in
the near future. A date and time have not yet been fixed, but I
will post details when I have them for those in the New Mexico
area.
"For all the rest of the people who loved Roger and his
work, we have been talking about organizing a memorial serн
vice/reading/party at one of the major upcoming conventions,
most likely the World Fantasy Con in Baltimore. Again, I will
post further details when I have them.
"Roger was a giant, not only one of the finest writers
that the genre has ever seen, but the kindlest, gentlest,
sweetest man I have ever been fortunate enough to know. We have
lost a good one."
George R.R. Martin
14 June 1995
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Last-modified: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 20:20:55 GMT