In Memoriam -- Dick Francis

[vanillafluffy]

Dick Francis
1920-2010


Oh dear. The passing of Dick Francis makes the second of my well-loved writers to die this year. This distresses me; I'm already living in terror of Anne McCaffrey's eventual demise, ditto Stuart Woods. (As well as a few non-writers: Peter O'Toole looks rather frail these days, and Kirk Douglas is a shadow of his once-robust self.)

As a horse-mad kid, I read the condensed version of "Enquiry" in one of the women's mags (remember when 'zines used to have *gasp* monthly fiction?!), I acquired the rest over the years, and just in the last couple weeks revisited "To the Hilt" and "Hot Money". What with the Canadian Olympics, I was thinking of perusing "The Edge" again. (Not "Trial Run". Too Cold War and dated.)

I haven't read any of the "and Felix" books after "Executive Orders", which I thought was subpar, but all of the others, yes. I even have a couple signed volumes, courtesy of my dearly departed brother Peter.

I'll bet that Peter, who was also quite a fan, has given him a hearty welcome on the far side of the Pearly Gates....

.

Comments

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Dick Francis is my favourite author after Jane Austen. Now both my favourite authors are dead. *sigh*

Hot Money is one of my favourites. Also The Edge and Straight, which is probably my top fave. Proof was also fantastic. Oh, hell, most of them are fantastic, though some of them don't stand up well all these years later (Trial Run, Twice Shy, to name two). I didn't discover him until I was in my twenties, but I absolutely loved his stories. It's a passion I share with my dad, who can tell you the name of the protagonist and villain in every book. Give him one name or a title, and he'll come up with the rest. I'm not quite that good yet.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

He's also created some breathtakingly vivid secondary characters, which for me s a writer is something to be lauded. They're so well-written that you want to know what their stories are before and after they wander out of the narrative. John Viking, the mad balloonist. Hillary Pinlock, the no-longer-virginal headmistress. Little Rachel, the girl with leukeymia (I'll never forgive him for not disclosing her fate, which was in limbo at the end of "Come to Grief"). And so many other terrific characters.

What a loss. Still, he left behind a lot of wonderful books and it isn't as if he was cut down tragically in his prime. I'm sure he was happy to be reunited with Mary....

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes to all of that. I need to reread some, soon.

[jdsgirlbev.livejournal.com]

I haven't read a Dick Francis book in years, but I remember loving the ones I did read. I saw some of his books on my last visit to the book store I think I'll pick up one or two on my next visit. He had good innings.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

That's sad. My mother always had a few of his books around.