[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

The end of an era is always a hard thing to face. For me, it came when Tolkien died in 1973. It had been more than 12 years since I'd fallen in love with LotR, and what I felt then was the same thing I felt when I heard, many years later, that Jim Henson had died: a sense of profound loss, because the person whose wonderful imagination had given us so much would no longer be able to do so. I had that feeling again when one of my writing mentors, Gordon R. Dickson, passed away a few years ago. So long as the author is alive, there is always the possibility that they may have new ideas, and new reasons to return to that beloved world they created for us, or -- perhaps even better -- they might create new worlds and characters for us to love. And yet, even once they are gone, they all leave behind such a tremendous legacy, to visit again and again -- and beyond, in our own imaginations -- that I cannot help but feel grateful for all they have given us. The bitter with the sweet.