a belated memorial
Apr. 30th, 2009 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseLong story how, but I ended up website-hopping to the site of an author whose page I used to follow very closely and had forgotten about in the last few years - Janet Kagan. Kagan was my writing hero when I was in my teens, and I still love her books whenever I go back to them. I wrote a fan email to her back in early high school, and was delighted when she wrote a long and thoughtful letter back, and moreso when the occasional further note garnered further replies. Her books - in particular Uhura's Song (yes, that Uhura - it was a Star Trek novel from the days of yore, and I've read it so many times I could probably still recite it verbatim) and Mirabile - are still, to some extent, cornerstones in my mind. Rereading them recently, I realized how much her writing must have laid the groundwork for my love of anthropology - she was good with culture.
Tonight when I went to check her website, I found out that she died more than a year ago.
She wasn't a young woman, and I suppose I knew in a vague sort of way from her website that she had bouts of ill health. But it hurts to know she's gone, and, more than that, somehow, that I didn't realize until now. It's dandelion season, too, and she always said she loved dandelions.
So, here's to the woman who taught me that diamonds and dynamite come in small packages. I'm still working on getting something actually written and finished so I can paper the bathroom walls with rejections like she said to do (because, why not send it in? it's already not being published...), but if I ever do, it'll be in part thanks to her.
Tonight when I went to check her website, I found out that she died more than a year ago.
She wasn't a young woman, and I suppose I knew in a vague sort of way from her website that she had bouts of ill health. But it hurts to know she's gone, and, more than that, somehow, that I didn't realize until now. It's dandelion season, too, and she always said she loved dandelions.
So, here's to the woman who taught me that diamonds and dynamite come in small packages. I'm still working on getting something actually written and finished so I can paper the bathroom walls with rejections like she said to do (because, why not send it in? it's already not being published...), but if I ever do, it'll be in part thanks to her.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 01:10 pm (UTC)read Uhura's Song and Mirabile (thanks to you suggesting them)
and they were wonderful books. She would have loved this post you wrote remembering her, it's truly beautiful, and made me feel wistful. I'm so sorry for the loss, she seemed like such a wonderful woman. If I'm thinking of the right woman which I believe I am cause I remember the dandelions, I also remember lots of fun stories about her husband ands her pets.