David Eddings died this month

And I didn't find out until now, when I read the list of deceased for june on wikipedia to see who else we lost this month besides David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

For those who don't know him or of him, David and Leigh Eddings (his wife) wrote a few series of fantasy novels in the late eighties and early nineties, known as The Belgariad (with it's successor The Malloreon) and The Elenium (And it's, The Tamuli), which were, basically, the books that made me a reader. It was after reading Eddings' books I got into Lord of the Rings and Tolkien, Stephen King's various works, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie's novels, Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe, Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap Series, Robert Heinlein's stuff... Not to mention Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series!

All of this I've discovered the joys of, thanks to David Eddings and his wife, who was a major contributor to all his works, but got far too little of the credit. I've not read any new stuff from him lately and, frankly, not had the time or chance to really look into it.

However, what's more is, he is the main source of inspiration I had when I realized I was a writer. I think, deep down, you're either a writer or you are not. I am one, though I dunno how good I'll do, but that's not up to me to judge.

Now the man who stands as the sole reason why I'm a reader and have discovered my joy of writing has passed away.

And I didn't even notice until nearly a month gone by.

For those of you interested in reading fantasy, as in the good stuff, check out a book called The Diamond Throne, by David Eddings. It's the first book in the Elenium trilogy, and it's a blast!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go down a beer and a shot.

-Fred