RIP David Eddings

[puppetmaker]

I remember precisely where I was when I bought my first David Eddings book. I was in Florida with my family on vacation. We had gone to the local mall and the bookstore (Walden Books) and I saw this cover that interested me. It was "The Pawn of Prophecy" by David Eddings. I devoured it and as many other books as had been published by that point. I really liked them. He was one of a few authors that I bought in hardcover because I wanted to own that book the minute it came out.

Years later I was working with Del Rey and ended up working on a repackaging of the Belgariad. I ended up have a number of conversations with both David and Leigh about it over the phone and a little bit of e-mail. I never told him how much I had enjoyed his books in my teen years. It just didn't seem professional.

Leigh passed away in 2007 and I sent a sympathy card to David. This morning I learned that David passed away. And another of the fantasy modern greats passes on.

I do regret that I never told David and Leigh how much that series had meant to me.

I am grateful that I got to work with them.

Comments

[jcaliff.livejournal.com]

Oh no. That's terrible. :( I was a huge fan when I was younger, and the Belgariad is still one of my favorite fantasy series ever. I used to practically live in the library and bookstores and read so much fantasy, but the combination of humor with adventure, drama, and strong characters made his work really stand out. Polgara was one of the first really strong, independent female characters that I identified with. I'll have to go pull the books off the shelf and reread this month.