Damn it, authors, stop dying!

I just discovered that Robert Asprin died May 22. I've lost count of how many sci-fi/fantasy authors have died in the past twelve or so months, but it's way too freaking many. Granted, they weren't all authors I read, but some of them were, and, who knows, I might have gotten to the others eventually. Bah. Rats. And words to that effect. Especially since Robert Asprin was one of the authors I read...some of the time.

He wrote some very funny fantasy - the first few books of his Myth series were great - but, like most humor writers, his work was a bit up and down (or in and out of my range of humor, as the case may be). Still, when he was good, he was really good, and that kept me trying his books, even when they didn't always live up to his best. And he was way too young to just die in his sleep. I mean, what the hell, he's younger than my parents! (Okay, only by a couple years, but still. And, bizarrely, he apparently went to the same university they did, albeit briefly. O_o)

I think there are only a handful of authors I like who are still alive. I'd really appreciate it if they stayed that way.