Kage Baker
Green Man Review has posted the following update on Kage Baker’s condition.
Kage’s doctor has informed us she has reached the end of useful treatment. The cancer has slowed, but not stopped. It has continued to spread at an unnatural speed through her brain, her lungs and – now – reappeared in her abdomen. It is probably a matter of a few weeks, at most. Kage has fought very hard, but this is just too aggressive and mean. She’s very, very tired now, and ready for her Long Sleep. She’s not afraid. We’ve been in a motel the last week or so, in order to complete her therapy.I’ll have her home in her own bedroom by the weekend, though, so end of life care can take place in more comfortable surroundings.
There’s no getting around just how much this sucks. Kage is a lovely human being and a writer who has given a lot of us many hours of rapt enjoyment. She’s also a very humorous writer, and I hope that her sense of humor is helping her a little bit in these extreme circumstances. (In typical Baker fashion, when, not knowing she had cancer, we queried about her contribution to the forthcoming Lambshead Cabinet of Curiousities, she replied in part that she wasn’t up to it unless we wanted her as medical specimen.)
If you want to drop her a line or send her something (you really should), the information on how to do so can be found here.
January 27, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Jeff -
Thank you for posting this health update on Kage Baker. I was so shocked to hear the news that her struggle is nearly at an end. I only just discovered Ms. Baker’s wonderful works last month, as someone bought me “The Empress Of Mars” as a Christmas present. My immediate reaction on finishing said book was to go straight to Amazon, and order up a fresh helping of her fabulous writing.
How devastating for her family, friends and readers, and what a huge loss for the Spec-fiction world!
January 27, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Thanks for the update. That’s all I can really say. This is not happy news, and so, I’m not happy about it…at all…
January 27, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I’m very sad. Never met her in person, but I had read some of her short stories and loved them – the first reaction I had when I first heard of her condition was to and buy everything I could find by her. It’s what we can do at times like these – and, if you believe in a God (I do), pray. Thanks for the update, Jeff.
January 27, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Sorrowful news. :-(
I hope that she in not in much pain.
Love her work, and her many panel appearances at conventions like BayCon.
January 27, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I know her sister has said she is getting a lot of emails and also snail mail.
January 27, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for keeping the updates. I hope everything ends as best it can, loved and safe and comfortable.
Last-minute reversals and deus ex machina would be nice, too.
January 27, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Yes, that’s what I’m hoping for, too.
January 28, 2010 at 5:24 am
cancer’s a bastard……
peace and love……
January 28, 2010 at 10:08 am
[...] Vandermeer once more brought to our attention the sad news of Kage Baker, and I know I find it a great loss to think another talented writer may not write another series. I [...]
January 29, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I believe done is not done until done is done. Love is powerful. Take a moment and send her a ‘Get Well’ today.
January 29, 2010 at 2:22 pm
…and oh yes, I agree with Fabio…pray.
January 31, 2010 at 1:20 am
I sent her an email but I really wish there was more I could do…hopeless situations suck. I love her writing. I thought Hotel Under The Sand was really whimsical…
January 31, 2010 at 3:05 pm
David tells me she died this morning.