I emailed the guy who used to draw the Robotman strip approximately 15 years ago. This is back when I used to email off Eudora and “browse” the web with Mosaic. I actually got back a real reply. In my email I asked-
Are you married and how old are you? (Back before Google, I was curious, I liked that strip) I think he said he was in his 30s and he was married.
What other cartoonists are you friends with? Guy from Dilbert apparently.
Where can I buy a tshirt with Robotman on it-forget his answer though he sympathised that finding official merchandise was difficult.
There was some other stuff. He basically replied back directly to me though I can’t for the life of me figure out how/where I got his email address.
The possession that I am most sad I have lost is a handrwritten, detailed reply to my letter I wrote to Terry Pratchett when “Maskerade” was the current hardback novel. He wrote a lovely letter which began by apologising that he was late in replying but that he gets quite a few letters and he hoped I understood. And that sometimes he dreamed of getting a secretary in but he thought that people would probably find that even less impressive then the long waits for replies.
He then went through each of my points I’d asked about “Maskerade” and his novels in general, sadly most of which I’ve now forgotten but it included the fact that he didn’t think Ridcully and Granny would keep in touch as they were now at too different stages in each of their respective lives and he doubted he would write them sharing many scenes in later books.
I treasured the letter so much and I was devastated when it was one of the things that went missing during my parents house move many, many years ago. Looking back now, I’m surprised I never wrote to him again - I think I felt I had used my turn and that he must indeed get many thosands of letters.
He was equally charming in person too when I met him at a book signing once, and chatted easily, creating an instant rapport and seeing instantly through my question that I asked and then ever so gently teasing me about it like we were old friends instead of pefect strangers. He must have made the day of every person standing in that line, he took such an interst in everyone.
I think the closest i can come is a short, signed note from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., giving me permission to do research in his father’s papers at Harvard University. At least, he’s about the only really well-known one.
I’ve had quite a bit of correspondence with academic historians about their work, often about their books, and i guess that these folks could properly be described as authors, but they’re not, for the most part, the sort of authors who attract fans in the way that fiction authors do.
Dave Duncan. He says on his website that he doesn’t do ongoing conversations, so if you respond to his reply that’s where it ends, I guess until you ask a separate question some time later.
I’ve actually gone off his books, though. His most recent stuff hasn’t managed to engage me.
Hm, Lois McMaster Bujold is a very active participant of her email list, and I have met her and had dinner with her at a Balticon several years ago, as my friend and I were sort of her unofficial wranglers. So if conversing with her via email counts … though I did get her to sign a copy of one of her books for a friend of mine [I dont collect sigs for myself for some reason.]
I mailed out a reply to Dave Barry about a column he wrotye about some physics geeks investigating bubbles in beer, and actually got a scribbled reply back on a postcard. I wasn’t really expecting a reply.
I also got a response from Martin Gardner when I wrote to him suggesting something for his “Mathematical Games” column in Scientific American. Again, I wasn’t really expecting a reply.
I’ve had a lot of famous (NBA, Pulitzer, multiple best-sellers, etc.) writers as teachers, so I’ve had extensive (like thousands of) letters and notes to and from them, so I’ll just count a very courteous personal note from Norman Mailer (rejecting my application to be his research assistant for what turned out to be THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG) and a friendly postcard from Anthony Burgess as among my prized possessions. (Damned if I can figure out where I put them, though.)
There was a thread here about Michael Moore and I e-mailed him looking for clarification of some of the points in the thread. He replied within hours. I then posted the email.
No, but that is the least of my concerns. My own damn fault for draging my feet. My concern is for her family, her IRL friends, her co-workers, her fans, and the rest of the world now that Janet Kagan’s voice has been silenced. Mirabile is an utterly charming book, but there will be no others like it.
There was something very youthful about her writing, both published and in her few emails to me, that let me believe she’d be around forever. I had no idea she was 63, although thirty seconds’ worth of googling would have told me.
At least I got to tell her how much I enjoyed her work. Mama Zappa and I were just recommending Mirabile to our daughter the other day. Janet will never know about that. Another bit of sadness.
I’ve exchanged a few emails with Lawrence Watt-Evans, who might be best known for his Ethshar novels. He was very nice and polite, and seemed to be happy to discuss just what he was going to do next in that series.
I’ve also exchanged a couple of emails with Aaron Williams, who is a cartoonist. He also sent me personalized replies, was very nice, and seemed happy to discuss his characters and storylines.
Not much for me, got a short email response from a poet named Michael Lally. His writing accomplishments include at least two National Endowments for the Arts Poetry Awards, as well as some small scandal since his poems were used as evidence in Congress that the NEA supported pornographic material (year=1981). I found a collection of his poetry & short stories in a small book store twenty five years later.
Not sure how much this counts–I once sent Daniel Dennettan offprint of an article of mine on free will. He wrote me back a nice note, saying that he mostly agreed with it. He seemed pleased to be hearing from someone in Beirut (I was living there at the time), and wrote that he was actually born in Beirut.
In the early 90s I wrote to Peter McWilliams and got permission to electronically re-post as much as I liked of Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do. I was SysOp of a tiny local BBS and wanted to post giant chunks from the chapters on how and why drugs became illegal. Still have the letter somewhere, so I may still be able to post whole chapters.