Originally Posted by From an SCA list
I write this with a heavy heart. Today, sometime between 2
pm and 5
pm,
Yang the Nauseating [ed: Robert Aspirin's SCA name] passed away.
I spoke to him around 2
pm - to confirm that I was to pick him up at
5
pm and take him to the airport. He was to go to a convention in Ohio
this weekend - MarCon. At 2
pm, everything was fine. When I arrived at
his house, he wasn't outside, didn't answer his cellphone,
didn't answer his landline. Of course, as I was trying to figure
out what to do, someone came up behind me and I had to drive around the
block. (The French Quarter.) I called him again as I made the block,
but still no answer.
I *thought* I had a key to his house, but I wasn't certain I had it
with me. I tried to call another one of his close friends (who works in
the Quarter), because I knew that he would have a key, but I
couldn't get him. So I parked the car and dug through my briefcase
and found the key that I thought was for his house. I did get in with
the key, but it took some tugging and pushing.
I found Yang lying on his bed, with a book in one hand (a Terry
Pratchett book, no less) and his other hand by his side, his glasses
just beyond. To all extents and purposes, it looks as though he had
decided to take a nap. But I could tell he wasn't breathing and he
had no pulse. I called 911.
The paramedics and firemen arrived quickly and were quite nice and very
good. They actually worked on him for 30 minutes, which sort of
surprised me, because there was no activity on the heart monitor when
they hooked him up. It might have been standard protocol. Whatever the
case, they tried very hard, but couldn't bring him back.
I have been in touch with his literary agent, who in turn notified his
family. Because Yang was also an author, the news is already spreading
very quickly. I am very sorry to have to share this news with my SCA
family, but I wanted everyone here to hear it from me before you read it
on some sfnet board.
Yang was 62 years old, born June 28, 1946. He had no obvious health
problems, but he was also notorious for avoiding doctors. To those who
knew him "way back when" - Isolda, John the Bearkiller, and many others
- he was very pleased with how the SCA has developed since the "bad old
days" of freon can helms with women not allowed to fight in the lists.
He would have come and played with us more if he could have.
- Lady Alsinda de Rochabaron
