Jay Lake Has Passed

I first met Jay Lake in at World Fantasy 2009, the first World Fantasy convention, indeed first SF convention of any kind I had attended.

Somewhat bewildered and unsure of what I was doing there, I was sitting in the lobby area/bar when a fellow with outrageously long locks and a beard sat beside me at another small table. A steady stream of friends and fellow writers approaching him, engaging in funny, friendly banter. He took a moment during the fun to meet and subsequently include the balding, bewildered fellow seated near him in his conversations.

That fellow was me.

My time with Jay on that occasion did not last very long, but it was very, very informative to my experience of World Fantasy. As anybody who knows me can tell you: I love World Fantasy Convention. Part of that love had its genesis in Jay's inclusion and initiation of me into this world of writers and their society.

I didn't get the chance to speak directly to Jay very often on the subsequent occasions we saw one another, just exchanging a friendly nod and kind word in passing. He always remembered my name, despite our limited experience of one another, and even when he was complaining about the devastating effects chemotherapy was having on his prodigious mind.

I read his blog, keeping up with his thoughts in that manner.

Two years ago yesterday,  I was in the process of making my first fiction sale.  I sent Jay a private message on Facebook:

May 31, 2012 11:41 am

Any pointers on celebrating one's first fiction sale?

announce like crazy, tell all your friends, buy your IRL friends a round

get them to pay you in a paper check if possible so you can photocopy it and frme it

and congratulations, yes?

Excellent ideas, all! I shall see you at chicon! And thanks for the congrats. Contract not signed yet, so I'm no quite able to shriek it from the rooftops, bit it's there!

good luck

I took all your advice, Jay.

Good luck and safe journey on your travels, wherever they may take your essence.

BANK ON IT! SOLD!

The short story I wrote for Eric Flint's 1632 e-magazine, The Grantville Gazette, has been accepted for publication. The story is titled Bank On It, a teaser for which is now up on the website.

I am blown away by how quickly things moved on this. It took a while to finish the story, if only because my knowledge of chemistry was not sufficient to move the plot along. But I finished it two weeks ago and now it's a done deal.

I am over the moon that this has happened. It's no novel, but it is getting paid for the written product of my mind, something I've wanted since I was 10 years old and first understood where all the books I loved came from. While I've been published for game modules and adventures, this is fiction, flat out, and that's a whole 'nother level of process.

I am very blessed to have friends who gave encouragement and guidance, for me as an individual and for the story in particular.  Thanks to: Chuck, Mark, Rob, Rick, Alistair, and most especially Alan, who, a few years ago, saw that a beat man might have more skills than those necessary to walk a beat. It was you that gave me that first glimmer of hope, that first spark of confidence. Thank you.

I hope you will read and enjoy the tale, and hope to write many more that see publication.