A Bad Week

I received some very sad news today.  My fellow podcaster and friend over at the Overnightscape Underground, Jimbo, has passed away at his home in Georgia.  Jimbo was about the same age as myself and, despite having a long history of health problems, went far too soon.  It is strange that I feel such a sense of loss for someone that I never physically met, but, for the past few years I collaborated with Jimbo on a number of projects and came to consider him a friend.  He was a prolific podcaster - so much so that I couldn't keep up with his output - particularly in the months leading up to his death.  I was in contact with him until shortly before his death, partly in relation to my contributions to the regular group podcast the Overnightscape Central, which he had been editing for the past year, and partly in relation to another podcasting project I was working on with Jimbo.  That project, obviously, is now in limbo, although I have enough material to edit together a shortened version of it - I'll consult with the others at the Overnightscape and see if they feel this a good idea before proceeding.

I'll miss seeing his missives in my e-mail inbox and his Tweets in my Twitter timeline.  The news of Jimbo's demise came hard on the heels of learning that author Bill Crider, who runs one of my favourite blogs, Bill Crider's Pop Culture Blog, has been given only weeks to live by his Doctor's.  Bill had been battling cancer for some months now, but the news still came as a shock to those of use who follow his blog.  As with Jimbo, I've never met Bill Crider, or even corresponded with him, yet I feel a keen sense of loss - like many of his readers, I feel that I actually know him, so engaging has his writing been.  From a purely selfish point of view, I'm going to miss his blog with its daily selection of entries pointing readers in the direction of cool and interesting stories elsewhere on the web. Thank's to Bill Crider's blog I've discovered many, many other great web sites and been exposed to many news stories which would otherwise have passed me by.  So, all-in-all, not a good week.  Normal service will, hopefully, be resumed tomorrow.