Kage Baker has passed away this morning, from cancer.

I was saddened to hear the news. I did not know Kage well, but I had the chance to meet her a couple of years ago, when the two of us were Guests of Honor together at a small con in Madison, Wisconsin, and she was great company. Lively, intelligent, good-humored, full of life.

She was also a damn fine writer. She contributed a Cugel the Clever story, “The Green Bird,” to SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, the Jack Vance tribute anthology I co-edited with Gardner Dozois, and captured Cugel perfectly, no mean feat. I would have loved to have had the chance to buy more stories from her for future anthologies.

Check out her books, if you’re not familiar with them. Flowers and donations and tributes are all well and good, but I’ve always felt that the best way to remember any writer is to read their work. Kage’s work deserves to be read and reread for many years to come. It’s sad to think there won’t be any more of it.

Goodbye, Kage. We hardly knew ya.

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