Neil Gaiman on Iain Banks' Passing

image courtesy of astroengine.com

I've never read any book by Iain Banks. Before I worked at the bookstore, from '06-'11 I don't know that I even really knew who he was. But when you work at a bookstore you get to really see a lot of store you have missed or would undoubtedly miss, and once I started handling his books I started reading about him online. He's been in my 'I'll get to it' que since, along with Charles De Lint, John Scalzi and a host of others.

And now he's dead.

Of course his passing affects me in a removed way, but it affects me nonetheless - in a way every human beings does when we stop to pay attention to the idea of essence slipping away and disappearing from our world. But the death of Iain Banks (aka Iain M. Banks) does not affect me as it does those who were fans, or those who knew him.

Or those lucky enough to fall into both of those categories, as Neil Gaiman so obviously does, as evidenced in this heartfelt reaction here.