Dominick Dunne 1925-2009

Bestselling author Dominick Dunne passed away yesterday in his home from complications of bladder cancer. He was 83.

An advocate for victims' rights, a WWII veteran, a stage manager for the original Howdy Doody show, a movie producer and a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Dunne was many things, but what he will be most of all, is missed. We've lost one of the good ones.

Philip Jose Farmer 1918-2009

According to his website, prolific science fiction and fantasy author Philip Jose Farmer passed away in his sleep yesterday morning.

To many he will be remembered as the creator of the "Riverworld" series of books or maybe as one of the fathers of the new wave of scifi in the 1950s and 1960s. Some may even have noted his style always making use of sexual and religious content. I will remember the first book of his I read, "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life," and how it brought all those pulp characters of another age to life for me. Farmer did similar things with Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes and other fictional characters that he gave new life to.

We have truly lost one of the greats, and he will be missed...