# Has an author ever died while you were reading their book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388 "2013-03-30T22:46:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/1 "2013-03-30T22:46:21Z")
Has an author ever died while you were reading his/her book? It’s happened to me twice - W.O. Mitchell died while I was reading his book “Who Has Seen The Wind?” and Harold C. Schonberg died while I was reading his book “The Lives of the Great Composers.” ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/2 "2013-03-30T22:57:45Z")
Crichton. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/3 "2013-03-30T23:27:51Z")
I killed Anthony Burgess by reading everything of his I could get my hands on until November 1993, exhausting his catalog at the same time he died. Then I did for Susan Travers, whose autobiography of her adventures with the French Foreign Legion I returned to my public library the same week she died. I’m afraid I do this sort of thing quite regularly. A while back I was remembering the character from Gomer Pyle: the salesman who’d sell slipshod goods out of the trunk of his car. Forty years since I’d watched the show. A few days later I see in Wikipedia that he’d died. I have no time to waste on reading Glen Beck or Ann Coulter, but now that I think of it… ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/4 "2013-03-30T23:31:37Z")
Michael Crichton is the only one I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/5 "2013-03-31T00:40:18Z")
Not quite the same thing, but science fiction legend John Brunner died of a stroke while attending the Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) in Glasgow in 1995. The news stunned all of us who were there, and it was turned into an impromptu memorial. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/6 "2013-03-31T00:40:30Z")
No, but both Richard Biggs(Babylon 5) and Andy Hallet(Angel) died while I was re-watching their shows. I learned of Richard Biggs the next day, but I was literally watching Andy Hallet on screen when I learned of his death. Very creepy and weird. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/7 "2013-03-31T00:46:55Z")
I was rereading the wheel of time series when I heard Jordan had passed away. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/8 "2013-03-31T02:21:32Z")
This is going back a ways, but in 1976, when I was a freshman in high school, I was reading the Hercule Poirot mystery\*\*\* Curtain \*\*\*when I heard that Agatha Christie had died. I can’t think of any other time that happened. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/9 "2013-03-31T02:37:19Z")
Some authors have only avoided this fate by not being within arm’s reach while I was reading their books. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/10 "2013-03-31T06:15:43Z")
Isaac Asimov. But considering that between 1985 and 2000 I pretty much was ALWAYS reading an Isaac Asimov book (in the mix of many books being read simultaneously) the odds were good. I was reading a Stephen King book when he got hit by the car and nearly died. ---
**Author:** ![Elyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5ac83/32.png) [@Elyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elyanna)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/11 "2013-03-31T12:13:30Z")
Yes! I was rereading one of the Dragonriders of Pern books when Anne McCaffrey passed away. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/12 "2013-03-31T13:42:46Z")
Gary Jennings… The Journeyer. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/13 "2013-03-31T14:41:57Z")
Stephen King. I got him back from the Author Sematary, but he’s never been the same. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/14 "2013-03-31T15:02:16Z")
A friend of mine wrote [this](http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Control-Debate-ebook/dp/B005VM8RUW) book. He sent me a hard copy in the mail soon after it was published. And then he died a week later. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/15 "2013-03-31T15:20:53Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > I was rereading the wheel of time series when I heard Jordan had passed away. Yeah, you and how many millions of other people? I keep reading Piers Anthony, but no luck yet… ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/16 "2013-03-31T15:46:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Not quite the same thing, but science fiction legend John Brunner died of a stroke while attending the Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) in Glasgow in 1995. The news stunned all of us who were there, and it was turned into an impromptu memorial. I was there too and actually witnessed his death. I didn’t realise it at the time. I saw the poor man collapse and immediately become surrounded by people who appeared to know what they were doing so I carried on walking. It wasn’t until Samuel R Delany gave his elegy and incidentally pinpointed the time and place that I realised who it was I had seen. Very tragic, I felt so sorry for his (Japanese) wife who found herself widowed in a foreign country. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/17 "2013-03-31T15:51:41Z")
> [@Elyanna](#): > > Yes! I was rereading one of the Dragonriders of Pern books when Anne McCaffrey passed away. I was also reading one of hers, but for the first time. Probably the last too, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/18 "2013-03-31T16:16:31Z")
If I ever publish a book, please don’t any of you folks read it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/19 "2013-04-01T02:27:27Z")
While shopping for Christmas music one year, some friends and I ran across the Tiny Tim Christmas album. I made a snide remark that they didn’t get, never having heard of him. As we left the store, I was describing his loopy legend, and sang a snatch of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” When we got back to the house, we heard on the news that he had died–right at the time that I was singing that song… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388/20 "2013-04-01T02:56:46Z")
Not an author, so not an exact fit for the OP, but in January I was working on a “top ten” playlist for a friend’s podcast. The topic was Top Ten Academy Award Nominated Songs. I had “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” on my list and thus listened to it countless times over the week that I was putting my list together. I was actually listening to it when I saw the headline that Patty Andrews died. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-author-ever-died-while-you-were-reading-their-book/654388.md?page=2)