[Note that my previous two entries were composed retroactively, after I'd heard the news below, but I wanted to try and preserve their tone without coloring them with the following bad news. I did not log in earlier because internet access is $9.99/24 hours and I was being a little cheap.]

While Lisa and I were hanging around the pre-con reception, we were informed by several people of some terrible news. Somewhat later, convention chair Dale Mazzola made an official announcement: Robert Asprin, Author Special Guest of MARCON, was found dead a few hours ago. Reportedly he suffered a massive heart attack.

As some of you know, I was the founder and for more than five years was President of the MythAdventures Fan Club. While I'd actually only met Bob a few times, I was really looking forward to seeing him again for the first time in many years. This is a very sad day.

Beyond the immediate tragedy, I find myself thinking like a conrunner about this: Author Guest of Honor Jody Lynn Nye (Bob's collaborator) and Editor Special Guest Bill Fawcett (Bob's business manager and close friend) will also not be attending on account of Bob's death this afternoon. My sympathies to them and to everyone else who was close to Bob, but my sympathies also to the MARCON committee, who will have to cope with having a major guest die the day before the convention and the resultant disruption.

And here I was mildly grousing pre-con that Bob and I weren't scheduled for any panels together. It shows how petty my concerns can be sometimes.

Edit, Friday 15:55: Fixed spelling error. Even when I ran the club, I was prone to the name error.