THE ETERNAL LIFE OF THE INTERNET

As you know, less than two weeks ago my writing idol and inspiration -- Donald E. Westlake -- passed away suddenly.

A few minutes ago I went to his website to see if there were any updates... suggestions for memorial donations, or something like that. There was nothing. Every page reads as if he's still with us.

On one of the pages, he wrote:

At long last, the promised sixth and final story in the Starship Hopeful saga has docked at our space pad. I'll leave it and the other five up for a while. There aren't enough of the stories to fill out a book, and I won't be doing any more, so this is where they'll be spending the afterlife. Enjoy.

I hope that, like those six stories, this is where Donald E. Westlake will be spending the afterlife, and that his family and/or publishers don't dismantle the site. I don't pretend to have Westlake's talent or output, but I find it comforting to know that all these words he has written will live on, and that just a bit of that eternal life will apply to my words, too, some day.