RIP David Eddings

It is with heavy heart that I report here that one of the greatest Fantasy authors of all time, David Eddings, has passed away at age 77.

David Eddings once wrote the following about himself:

My current excursion into fantasy has given me an opportunity to test my technical theories [on writing]. I made a world that never was, with an unlikely theology splattered against an improbable geology. My magic is at best a kind of pragmatic cop–out. Many of my explanations of how magic is supposed to work are absurdities – but my characters all accept these explanations as if there was no quibbling about them, and if the characters believe, then the readers seem also to believe. Maybe that’s the “real” magic. That’s the basic formula for fantasy. Take a bit of magic, mix well with a few open-ended Jungian archetypal myths, make your people sweat and smell and get hungry at inopportune moments, throw in a ponderous prehistory, and let nature take it’s course.

Along with writers like Tolkien, Moorcock and Farmer, David is one of the reasons I started writing and got into the genre.

Goodbye David, and thank you.