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

[blueashke.livejournal.com]

When I was 15, I spent time in a juvenile psych ward, and a fellow patient gave me a book her mother had brought her - Belgarath the Sorceror. Somehow I missed that it was the end of a series, and so I read the whole history of the world before I ever read the Belgariad or the Mallorean. I read all 13 books aloud to my best friend over the last few years. He was the beginning for my love of fantasy, and from everything I've read about him and Leigh, a truly awesome person as well.

RIP Mr. Eddings. You will be missed.