In a blog post titled “A Bad Year Gets Worse,” George R. R. Martin wrote about Carrie Fisher’s tragic death as well as Watership Down author Richard Adams’ recent passing.
“There is not much I can say about the death of Carrie Fisher that a thousand other people have not said already. She was way too young. A bright, beautiful, talented actress, and a strong, witty, outspoken woman. Princess Leia will live as long as STAR WARS does... probably forever…” Martin wrote about Fisher.
Carrie’s castmates and friends, and many of the people whom she inspired, have flocked to social media to mourn her untimely passing, which came following a cardiac incident on a plane.
Regarding Adams, who passed in his sleep at 96, Martin wrote, “And the world lost one of its great fantasists today as well: Richard Adams, the author of WATERSHIP DOWN. Gardner Dozois ranks WATERSHIP DOWN as one of the three great fantasy novels of the twentienth century, right up there with LORD OF THE RINGS and THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING, and I agree.”
It’s hard to argue with that - by any standard Watership Down is as unforgettable as any of those novels, rabbits and all. “A truly amazing book... and one that somehow always seems to get forgotten when fans discuss the great fantasies. Maybe because of the talking rabbits? No idea…” Martin stated.
In their obituary of Adams, the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Adams was a stout, ruddy-faced man with a big chin and a flying shock of silver hair that complemented his Harris tweeds and country life. He wrote longhand with a pen or pencil, producing 1,000 words a day. Before each session, he read aloud from Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene” or C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation of Proust.”
Martin closed his post by writing, “A wonderful actress, a great writer. The world is poorer tonight.
“Please, let this wretched year come to an end.”
Hard to argue with that, in a year that saw the deaths of legends and young bright lights alike such as David Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, Anton Yelchin and George Michael. Now Fisher and Adams, too? Go away, 2016. Please.
