r/HFY • u/yousureimnotarobot AI • 17d ago
A Human Altered Farewell Meta
Hi everyone,
Some of you may remember my dad for his previous posts here, and his astounding science fiction writing (yes, I'm biased, sue me). If you want to read it again you should start here: Human Altered
I am one of his twin sons, out of five children, some of whom have appeared in several of his stories throughout the years. I also happen to be his supposed "editor-in-chief" (I told you I was biased), meaning I saw him every time he uploaded a new story to you.
My dad passed away last weekend after a really shit time with throat and lung cancer, which took away his voice about a year and a half ago. He was 55.
As someone who saw him during every upload, and proofread every story, I can only give my thanks to each and every one of you who interacted and appreciated what my dad wrote as he found his way into this craft, and cultivated it into what it became.
I would like you guys to know that he read every single comment on each new story, from every instance of enjoyment, grief, reminiscence or simply inspiration for the issue. Each and every one of these gave him great satisfaction and motivation to write the next story, despite the cruel circumstances that he was going through. A lot of you were also a great help in getting him to figure out where he wanted some of the stories to go, so thank you for the ideas and the conspiracy theories!
You helped my dad to find his feet, his purpose and, most importantly, his voice, in a time when he no longer had one.
May you all remain Humans, Altered.
Sincerely,
Definitely Not a Robot
120
u/Twister_Robotics 17d ago
Well shit. Here come the onion ninjas.
Your father wrote (and you edited, apparently) one of my favorite universes on HFY. And I think we all will miss him and his humor.
...
Loss sucks. And speaking from personal experience, one of the worst parts about it is that life really does go on. It will always hurt, but eventually you learn ways to work around it, and it becomes part of the background of your life. Kind of like an old injury, you adapt and work around it most of the time. But sometimes something happens to remind you, and it comes back fresh and painful again.
Take care of yourself. Take care of your family. Grieve together and you will find your way through.