Laura Givens

I recently learned of the passing of Laura Givens. That's her on the far left, next to me (Can't believe I was ever that young.)

Laura was an amazing artist, a great writer, and one of the best people that I've ever known. She did numerous covers for my books, the ones I've written, and the ones I've edited, and she was always wonderful to work with.

All the great memories I have of her art and her writing pale in comparison to the memories I have of all of the fun we had at cons. One of the first panels I ever did at a con was the Alien Archaeology panel at MileHiCon. I signed up for it thinking that it would be a discussion of how archaeology would work on other planets...boy, was I wrong!!!!

Laura was the moderator for the panel, and one of her improv partners was also on the panel along with MileHiCon guest of honor David Drake, and then the lesser types like me. What I thought would be a scientific discussion quickly turned into tales of sexual innuendo and double entendres as we "described" the various artifacts. Laura was a very outgoing person, one of the most outgoing I'd ever known. She could talk to anyone about anything. I, on the other hand, am one of the most introverted introverts that you'll ever meet. Talking to people has never been easy for me, and I was completely overwhelmed in this panel, but I ran with it, and we had the very large audience laughing their asses off for the full hour.

There are so many memories I have of the fun we would have at these cons, and it's an unfortunate reminder to me that I have neglected my friends so much over the years. I've shut myself off from the world quite a bit over the last few years, and as a result, I hadn't talked to Laura in years, and now I realize that I will never be able to again. Don't close yourself off from the world, people! We're only here for a very short period of time, and we lose friends so quickly and without warning.

Laura will be missed. I can't imagine ever going back to MileHiCon and not seeing her there...