Author Jay Lake passed away on June 1st, 2014. He was a prolific writer and later also became known for his writing about terminal cancer. His newest book, Last Plane to Heaven, will be out in September. GeekyLibrary reviewer Jason shares his thoughts:

Jay Lake
Jay Lake in 2009 (copyright 2009, Roger Podva)

I never got to meet Jay Lake, but I wish that I had. Jay was a local Northwest writer who passed away this past weekend after a long battle with cancer.

I stumbled across Jay’s first novel, Mainspring, at a bookstore over the winter, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had hoped to meet Jay at Norwescon 37, but he was unable to make his scheduled author talk due to his condition. (Jay kept a blog where he wrote about his treatment, but I didn’t know about it.)

I did meet several members of the writing community that all had great things to say about Jay as a person, including a writer that said Jay had been kind enough to mentor him and offer suggestions on his stories when he was just starting out.

“Jay is awesome,” he said.

I wish I had met him.

Not only was a wonderful science fiction writer lost, but a valuable and important member of the science fiction community.
Our condolences to all who knew him. We only know him through the writing he has left behind.

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