KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life

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Twenty-seven years ago, Jo, a fellow member of the Society for Creative Anachronism introduced Wrenn to Dale and announced that they were brother and sister. Jo died a few years later, but Wrenn and Dale continued to be siblings in all but blood.

Ten years ago, Dale lost his leg due to complications relating to his diabetes. He moved in with his daughter and son-in-law and grandkids in Delaware.

Nine years ago, Dale's son-in-law moved to El Paso. Dale wanted to stay with his doctors and friends, and Wrenn offered him a place to live with her. She was a few years out of a divorce and living in a small house also in Delaware.

Eight and a half years ago, Wrenn started dating me. Eight years ago, we agreed that we would move in together, and she and Dale moved to New York.

Dale was really happy being a New Yorker. With his prosthetic, he couldn't drive, and in Delaware Wrenn had to drive him everywhere, but here, he could get around on his own thanks to our robust mass transit system.

Despite his health problems -- diabetes, vascular issues, Epstein-Barr, back pain, muscle spasms, high blood pressure -- Dale lived as active a life as he was capable of. He became a mainstay of the local burlesque scene, and made friends literally everywhere he went. Every party we threw, every gathering we went to, he was always sitting in a big chair telling stories, and he had plenty of them.

A little more than a week ago, his daughter -- who went from El Paso to Anchorage to Seattle -- called and said that she and the family were actually in the area. They had driven across country and surprised all their family in New York and Pennsylvania, and was Dale free Tuesday or Wednesday night? So they came over Wednesday, Dale made his famous macaroni and cheese, and a good time was had by all.

That night at 2am, Dale was having trouble breathing. I put him in the car and drove him to the local emergency room. We stayed there all night, and then they admitted him. He had fluid in his lungs and a kidney infection, and they spent the last week taking care of that before giving him an angiography that would determine what was wrong with his heart.

It turned out there was quite a bit wrong. They were going to schedule him for a quadruple bypass. They sent him back to his room, and he complained of back pain, so the nurse went to get him some meds. Moments later, he collapsed. He was in the cardiac unit, so he couldn't have been in a better place, but despite thirty minutes of work, they couldn't revive him (except briefly for a few minutes where he said he had no idea what happened, then he crashed again).

Wrenn and I are both total wrecks -- Wrenn especially. He was always there, always telling stories, always being cranky about something, always there to talk politics or nerdery or television or movies or whatever.

I'll miss him more than it's possible for me to say.

Rest in peace, my dear brother-in-law, my dear housemate, my dear friend.

Current Mood: sad sad
Current Music: "The Seven" by Boogie Knights

Several of my books are for sale from me -- and I'll autograph 'em, too! If you want any of the books listed below, send me the amount of the cover price(s) of the book(s), plus an additional $6 for postage (inside the U.S.; outside the U.S., just send the cover price and I'll invoice you for the postage after I send it). You can PayPal the money to me at krad at whysper dot net or send a check or money order made out to Keith R.A. DeCandido to PO Box 4976, New York, NY 10185-4976. Be sure to let me know to whom you wish me to inscribe the autograph.

Here's what I got:

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Marvel's Thor: Tales of Asgard (omnibus collecting Thor: Dueling with Giants, Sif: Even Dragons Have Their Endings, and Warriors Three: Godhood’s End) -- $25

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SCPD: The Case of the Claw -- $15

Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet -- $17

WinchesterJournal

Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal (ruled notebook) -- $19

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (with my essay on the books vs. the movie Blade Runner) -- $40

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Star Trek: A Time for War, a Time for Peace -- $8

Star Trek: Klingon Empire: A Burning House -- $8

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Q & A -- $8

tiberiumwars

Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars -- $8

cheiron

Young Hercules: Cheiron's Warriors -- $3

Young Hercules: The Ares Alliance -- $3

both Young Hercules books -- $5

Please note that the Precinct books and Without a License are temporarily unavailable while we're in the process of transitioning those books from Dark Quest to eSpec. Other books I'm temporarily out of stock on, like Orphan Black: Classified Clone Report, the Supernatural novels, and various anthologies I'm in, but I'm hoping to restock soon.

If you have any questions, post them here or e-mail me at krad at whysper dot net.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: "I Shall Be Released" by The Band et al

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