Authors whose death you most regret?

[Buckwheat]

Roland Barthes

Yes.

Srečko Kosovel, a poet considered a classic in Slovene literature, died at the age of 22. So him.

[Andorion]

Iain Banks.

Terry Pratchett. I cried a bit when Pratchett died

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Tolkien and Frank Herbert.

[The Marquis de Leech]

In Tolkien's case, I'm not sure he'd have ever finished The Silmarillion without some external prompting. The problem is that in the last few years of his life he was more interested in exploring the metaphysics and minutiae of his world than polishing and updating the existing First Age stories. It didn't help that the few times he did try to properly revise, he ended up throwing out his old ideas and starting again from a blank slate (e.g. his 1960s idea where the Sun and Moon exist from the beginning, or his late 1972 whitewashing of Galadriel). 

[Free Northman Reborn]

David Gemmell's death hit me like a ton of bricks. He had a huge influence on my life, and at his general rate of a novel a year, could have churned out another 20 books if he lived to his late 70's.

Also, for all my criticism of him, I would have loved if Robert Jordan could have finished Wheel of Time himself. I basically invested 20 years in a series which was then finished as fan fiction. Really disappointing.

 

[Which Tyler]

I felt genuine regret and sadness when Terry Prattchet died, as though he was someone I knew personally, so must mention him.

Whilst I very much agree on Pterry - especially as I did meet him a couple of occasions, and he's basically the only celebrity I've ever actually mourned; I don't regret his death; I'm just delighted that he went with dignity, and his brain more-or-less intact. He went exactly as he wished, and only fairly shortly before he'd have chosen to go. He seems almost the definition of an author to be excluded in this thread.

 

Douglas Adams would be my biggest regret TBH; though it seems that Frank Herbert is the "right answer" for this thread - I'm yet to get around to reading Dune; and am daunted by the sheer size of it all, and the negativity towards a good 2/3 of it.

Whilst I'd have loved Tolkien to finish Silmarillion, or Jordan to gave finished WoT; those things are about as likely as GRRM finishing ASOIAF before the show; or leaving the world alone once he's done with the prime saga.

[SeanF]

Whilst I very much agree on Pterry - especially as I did meet him a couple of occasions, and he's basically the only celebrity I've ever actually mourned; I don't regret his death; I'm just delighted that he went with dignity, and his brain more-or-less intact. He went exactly as he wished, and only fairly shortly before he'd have chosen to go. He seems almost the definition of an author to be excluded in this thread.

 

Douglas Adams would be my biggest regret TBH; though it seems that Frank Herbert is the "right answer" for this thread - I'm yet to get around to reading Dune; and am daunted by the sheer size of it all, and the negativity towards a good 2/3 of it.

Whilst I'd have loved Tolkien to finish Silmarillion, or Jordan to gave finished WoT; those things are about as likely as GRRM finishing ASOIAF before the show; or leaving the world alone once he's done with the prime saga.

Dune is outstanding.  Children of Dune is enjoyable.  But, I thought Dune Messiah was a mess.

[Astromech]

If we're throwing poets into the mix, then I would have to add Arthur Rimbaud.

[Elder Sister]

John Kennedy Toole and William Gay.  Both wrote two of my favorite books - A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole) and  Twilight (Gay - and not THAT Twilight.  Ugh.)  

Toole died in his 30's, but Gay lived to his 70's.  I just wish he would have written a bit more.  I suppose I'm greedy.

[Jaxom 1974]

Anne McCaffrey.  

Why did you have to pass and let your son get his grubby mitts on your works? 

[Darth Richard II]

McCaffrey let her son fuck stuff up long before she passed.

[The Reckoner]

Robert Howard

[snowleper]

Carl Sagan.

[Jo498]

Dostoyevsky. He was not young (almost 60) and for someone with his illnesses and other problems he lived a rather long and productive life but I am very curious for that "sequel" for the "Brothers Karamasov" where Alyosha was supposed to leave the monastery and "go into the world".

[Darth Richard II]

Not an author, but man, Jim Henson. That one still stings.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

In Tolkien's case, I'm not sure he'd have ever finished The Silmarillion without some external prompting. The problem is that in the last few years of his life he was more interested in exploring the metaphysics and minutiae of his world than polishing and updating the existing First Age stories. It didn't help that the few times he did try to properly revise, he ended up throwing out his old ideas and starting again from a blank slate (e.g. his 1960s idea where the Sun and Moon exist from the beginning, or his late 1972 whitewashing of Galadriel). 

RBPL,

What do you mean by a "whitewashing" of Galadriel?  Where she has nothing to do with the first Kinslaying?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Whilst I very much agree on Pterry - especially as I did meet him a couple of occasions, and he's basically the only celebrity I've ever actually mourned; I don't regret his death; I'm just delighted that he went with dignity, and his brain more-or-less intact. He went exactly as he wished, and only fairly shortly before he'd have chosen to go. He seems almost the definition of an author to be excluded in this thread.

 

Douglas Adams would be my biggest regret TBH; though it seems that Frank Herbert is the "right answer" for this thread - I'm yet to get around to reading Dune; and am daunted by the sheer size of it all, and the negativity towards a good 2/3 of it.

Whilst I'd have loved Tolkien to finish Silmarillion, or Jordan to gave finished WoT; those things are about as likely as GRRM finishing ASOIAF before the show; or leaving the world alone once he's done with the prime saga.

Frank Herbert's work, with the exception of (in my opinion) Dune: Messiah, is excellent (Dune: Messiah was okay).  The "prequels" and the alleged "completion" of the original Dune series by others is not Dune in tone or text and shouldn't be considered part of the same work, ever.

[Gasp of Many Reeds]

Gemmell definitely was a shock, especially as I saw him do a fan event just a few years before he died (this was just after he'd brought out the last Drenai book) and there was no indication of ill health. Never did get round to writing the sequel to Quest for Lost Heroes I asked about (he said this was the one question he'd been asked at every fan event since bringing out the book, so I didn't make a great impression!).

[Werthead]

David Gemmell, Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, Iain Banks, natch.

The one that did hurt more than most was Robert Holdstock. Holdstock wrote The Dark Wheel, the novella that accompanied the original release of Elite in 1984 and did a huge amount to sell the worldbuilding and fiction of the game. It was the first prose science fiction story (not a comic or children's book) that I ever read. Many, many years later I read Mythago Wood and Lavondyss and enjoyed them both. I met Robert at a publisher event two months before his death and we talked about his work and Elite, and he was excited about the rumours of the new game (which then came to pass, sadly without his influence). The news of his passing was a complete and total shock.

Aaron Allston was another sad one. He had written quite a few good Star Wars books. And Charles Sheffield. He was older (67) but still very sad as he didn't get to definitively finish his Heritage Universe saga novels (not that I'm sure he ever would have done). Maximum respect for him also reporting matter-of-factly the discovery of his brain tumour and the approach to treatment on his blog.

Arthur C. Clarke wasn't really a shock due to his advanced age, but still a sad day. Isaac Asimov was even sadder, as he was somewhat younger, went earlier and still had some work to do wrapping up the Foundation universe.

[Larry.]

Southern novelists come to mind first.  Toole has already been mentioned, but to that I'd add Thomas Wolfe, Flannery O'Connor, and still not-quite-elderly William Faulkner.

I could probably list several others, but I think I'll limit myself for now to those from my favorite literary region/genre.