I became an Active SFWA member in January, 1996. I served
for 2 years as the vice-president of Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers (OSFW). I
recently dropped my membership in OSFW, but will always remember my first
meeting: August, 1989, and I was in the middle of an atrociously bad sf novel,
desperately needing contact with other people who were at least interested in
writing sf and fantasy. I brought the prologue of my novel to read. I noticed a
constantly smiling, white-haired man across the room, chatting w/a young blonde
fellow sitting beside him. My only excuse being stupid nervousness, (and/or It
Was Their Hair), I asked them, "Are you related?" They howled with
laughter because of course they weren't related. Then I found out the
white-haired gentleman was none other than R. A. Lafferty.
The early nineties were truly OSFW's salad days, during the last few years Ray was healthy enough to attend meetings. We'd take turns giving him rides, and I always brought my husband Randy along to help Ray on and off his porch. I was terrified I wasn't strong enough to support him if his legs gave out. ("Nobody SF Writer Responsible for Crippling Accident of American SF Treasure!")
Ray enjoyed the meetings immensely. He would laugh all evening, and make us laugh, too, since he had a wicked, razor-sharp sense of humor. He would eat snacks with gusto, grab any of us women he could and plant big kisses right on our mouths. Rarely, he would regale us with stories (sometimes deliciously unflattering but never malicious) of some of the biggest names in science fiction. He was devastated when Isaac Asimov passed away, observing that he should have gone first since he was older.
And he listened--with kind patience--to all manner of poorly-written, absolutely ghastly dreck from us. He never said much, but if you were very lucky, after you read your latest chapter or short story, he would occasionally remark, "Oh, that's a good one, you'll sell that." High praise, indeed. I was fortunate enough to hear that a few times, and Ray was right, I did sell a couple of the stories he commented on; "Fence of Palms," and "Noodle You, Noodle Me."
Ray died on March 21, 2002 in a Broken Arrow, Oklahoma nursing home. I miss you, Ray. Thanks for listening.
Obituaries for Ray Lafferty:
The Daily Oklahoman
The early nineties were truly OSFW's salad days, during the last few years Ray was healthy enough to attend meetings. We'd take turns giving him rides, and I always brought my husband Randy along to help Ray on and off his porch. I was terrified I wasn't strong enough to support him if his legs gave out. ("Nobody SF Writer Responsible for Crippling Accident of American SF Treasure!")
Ray enjoyed the meetings immensely. He would laugh all evening, and make us laugh, too, since he had a wicked, razor-sharp sense of humor. He would eat snacks with gusto, grab any of us women he could and plant big kisses right on our mouths. Rarely, he would regale us with stories (sometimes deliciously unflattering but never malicious) of some of the biggest names in science fiction. He was devastated when Isaac Asimov passed away, observing that he should have gone first since he was older.
And he listened--with kind patience--to all manner of poorly-written, absolutely ghastly dreck from us. He never said much, but if you were very lucky, after you read your latest chapter or short story, he would occasionally remark, "Oh, that's a good one, you'll sell that." High praise, indeed. I was fortunate enough to hear that a few times, and Ray was right, I did sell a couple of the stories he commented on; "Fence of Palms," and "Noodle You, Noodle Me."
Ray died on March 21, 2002 in a Broken Arrow, Oklahoma nursing home. I miss you, Ray. Thanks for listening.
Obituaries for Ray Lafferty:
The Daily Oklahoman
Recent Articles about Ray Lafferty:
