RIP Rob Holdstock

by Maura McHugh
Rob and Sarah together
Rob and Sarah together

At 4 o’clock this morning Rob Holdstock passed away.

He had been in intensive care since the 18th of November when he collapsed due to an E. coli infection.

Sincere sympathies to his partner Sarah Biggs and both their families.

Rob was one of the best fantasy writers of his generation, and a man with a huge appetite for life. There was nothing he liked better than the company of good friends, a cracking meal, drink and laughter.

His departure at only 61 years old is a tremendous loss.

He will be greatly missed.

173 Comments

  1. This is sad news indeed. My heart and thoughts go out to all concerned.
    Robert Holdstock will be greatly missed, but will remain forever in our memories and in his works. Perhaps there’s a new mythago born today…

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  3. I’ve known Rob since 1992. Over the years I bought his books, he bought some of my masks… Lavondyss is the reason I started making them and I was thrilled to bits that he liked my work.
    It’s always awkward to meet someone you admire and he didn’t decieve me : to me he’s always been a friendly giant

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  4. What a loss this is! To read a Holdstock book is to be taken into the depths of mythopoesis. He knew that true Fantasy does not take us out of ourselves, but deeper in. It does not take us to another world, but to the soul of this one.

    No one did it better than Robert Holdstock. The wonder of his words and imagery will be with me forever.

    My sincerest sympathies to his friends and family.

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  5. I am terribly touched and striken… I just cannot believe it actually happened… you meant so much much for me Rob… your books mean so much… they always will…
    Now you belong to the myth, Rob, now you belong to history and memory… may you find new life in the eternal virgin greenwoods of the Otherland… I’ll never forget you Rob… Today the world has lost part of its light..

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  6. What dreadful news! A wonderful, wonderful writer who redefined fantasy writing for me and I suspect very many others. Deepest sympathy to his friends and family…

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  7. It’s a great pity he had to die. I have read his work for a long time, have always enjoyed it and have admired the path he made for himself in modern imaginative literature. RIP.

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  8. Very sad. I am only familiar with his ‘Mythago Cycle’ of books; after reading the first of these ‘Mythago Wood’ the woods appeared changed forever or maybe I merely accessed them and experienced them differently; I certainly saw and heard them differently. Had I ever met him I would have thank him….. thank you Robert Holdstock.

    Our heart felt sympathies are with his family and friends.

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  9. Deborah and I are wretchedly sad to hear about Rob’s death. A wonderful writer and a great guy, we’ll miss him. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones.

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  11. So sorry to hear this – I met him once and corresponded with him for a bit and then lost touch. Such a genuine, warm, kind and extremely talented man. He will be greatly missed. Heartfelt sympathy to his partner Sarah and their families.

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  14. I am so sorry to hear this news. Not only was he a wonderful writer but also a very kind man. We met at a conference, where he overheard me saying that the next day was my birthday, and he went out of his way to wish me Happy Birthday the next day, although we were complete strangers to each other. I’ve never forgotten that small act of kindness.

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  15. Really awful news. I met Rob for the first time at the Elite gathering in Nottingham in October. He chatted happily about the novella he wrote – The Dark Wheel – and he was such a friendly, down-to-earth person. RIP.

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  16. I have just discovered the “Raven” series and have just started reading the first book when I heard this sad news. He had a wide following in the UK and will be missed.

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  18. I was fortunate enough to meet Robert Holdstock at a book signing a few years ago, and along with a few others spent a short time chatting with him in a cafe afterwards. I’ve sometimes found that there’s a degree of tension between authors and their fans, but Mr. Holdstock seemed genuinely warm, friendly and interested in what we had to say and ask him. He’ll be missed, and I imagine for that smile up there as much as his books.

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  19. I’m devastated by this loss – a great writer and a very good friend. 61 is an absurd age for someone to die in the 21st Century, and this is a tragedy for the people who knew Rob and the many more who knew him only through his work.

    He was very kind to me when I first entered the field, and a valued friend for over twenty years. He gave me lifts to Garry Kilworth’s parties, once visited my family home in Somerset and managed to get me to go to Ireland to interview him.

    My love and deepest condolences to Sarah.

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  20. I have liked and respected Robert Holdstock’s work since I read a version of “Mythago Wood” in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine many years ago. I am truly saddened to hear of his untimely passing, and extend my sincere sympathies to his family and his fans.

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  21. A wonderful man and a wonderful writer. The wild wood lost some of its magic today.

    Heartfelt condolences to Sarah and all Rob’s family.

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  22. An inspiration.

    ‘The Dark Wheel’ fired my imagination for space, science and writing. Thanks Rob and ‘Right On, Commander’!

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  23. How shocking sad to hear such terrible news. He was so respected as a person and as a writer. The field has truly lost a fine man. Deepest sympathy to his family, friends and readers.

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  25. What awful news. Robert was one of our great writers, and an absolutely charming man. He will be sorely missed. My sincere condolences to his family.

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  27. Who’d have thought when I picked up my copy of Elite in 1984 that within the box I would find such delight (not the game it turned out – although I loved that too). The novella “Dark Wheel” left me with a desire, a need, to write and write and write – and to seek out anything and everything Rob had written. A process that continues to this very day.

    You have left your mark upon this world as great as the mythos about which you wrote so eloquently.

    My thoughts to those Rob has left behind.

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  28. I’m totally stunned by this awful news. Rob and I go back over 30 years to before his first book was published. A great talent and a good friend.

    My thoughts are with you Sarah.

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  29. I never knew the man, but I know his work and it is a very fine body of work to be remembered by. MYTHAGO WOOD is one of those very few *special* books that stand out in one’s memory long after others have faded away. I’m always a little envious when I meet someone who hasn’t read it yet because I remember well the thrill of reading it for the first time. I’ll bet I’ve given away 5 or 6 copies of MYTHAGO WOOD over the years to friends. It’s that kind of a book. You want to share it with your best friends.

    I never knew the man, but I wish I had. What a fascinating man Robert Holdstock must have been. My sincerest condolences to his family and friends. He enriched this world.

    Curt Phillips
    Abingdon, VA, USA

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  31. I heard last week that Rob was ill, but didn’t even want to imagine that he wouldn’t pull through. A seriously good human being, and a seriously good writer.

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  32. I’m so sorry to hear this terrible news. I admired Rob’s work very much and, though I only met him once or twice, he seemed – as all his closer friends always told me – one of the most genuinely nice guys in the field. A tragic, and tragically early, loss.

    Sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.

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  33. I don’t think it would be overstating things to say that Robert Holdstock reinvented fantasy and in a way so unique no one has been able to follow him. He took us to dark places both within and without but it was always a joy to follow where he led.

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  34. I was very sad to receive this news. Mythago Wood remains one of the best books of my reading life. I was fortunate to meet Robert many years ago and he was very warm and generous. The world of SF&F has received a great loss. Condolences to family and friends.

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  35. As one of his translators I had the luck to work with him, trying to follow the paths of his unique imagination. I will miss him immensely. Thank you for every word you ever wrote or spoke, Rob. Hope to meet you in one of those otherland forests.
    Deepest sympathy to Sarah and all who loved him.

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  36. He was a fine writer whose novels, deeply felt, intensely imagined and engaging, deserve a place amongst the great works of English fantasy. More than that, and In the best, old-fashioned sense of the word, he was a thoroughly decent man: warm, modest, and charming, always attentive to everyone he met, and given to acts of kindness and generosity small and large.

    He was helpful to me in all kinds of ways when I began to go to conventions, and has been a good friend ever since. His sudden death, at such a relatively young age, is simply awful. I’ll miss him more than I can say. My heartfelt condolences to Sarah, and to his family.

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  38. I’m shocked and saddened by this tragedy. Rob was a lovely, friendly, enthusiastic guy who always had time to give a word of encouragement to a newcomer. I’d like to convey my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

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  39. Such a terrible, terrible loss. Rob’s work meant a lot to me, particularly Mythago Wood and more especially the utterly wonderful Lavondyss. To think that there will never be another new book by Rob Holdstock is extremely saddening.

    R.I.P. Rob, you will be missed by many.

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  40. Such a lovely man. Such a truly remarkable writer. He bought one of my first stories, befriended me, went above and beyond to help me, which was typical of him. So awful to hear this news. My condolences to Sarah and all who were close to him.

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  41. I just heard about this terrible news today and I am stunned. Robert was a great writer and the kindest of men. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts go to his family and friends.

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  42. I can’t remember when I first met Rob. He was one of those people: as soon as you met him it felt like you’d always known him. His books are very special to me, but knowing him was much more special. Sarah, you have my deepest condolences.

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  43. I must have known Rob for more than three decades. He was always funny and good company at launch parties, dinner parties or simply in the pub. But more than that, he was a damn fine writer. From his brilliant “Mythago” sequence and other fantasies, through the ridiculously entertaining “Nighthunter” series and his many other psuedonymous books, he brought a touch of class and quality to everything he did.

    Jo Fletcher and I were particularly delighted when we were able to make him Guest of Honour at the 1997 World Fantasy Convention in London (and boy, did he work hard at that event).

    The last couple of times I’d seen him — at Kim Newman’s annual summer party and the Gollancz authors’ party — he looked terrible. Although we discussed his health on both occasions, both times he shrugged it off as a “bug” that he was unable to shake off. I wish now that he had taken it more seriously. During the week up to the British Fantasy Convention this year, he called me almost every day about a somewhat saucy poem he had written for the Awards Banquet. He was worried it might be a bit too much, and would insist on reading extracts out to me over the phone with an appreciative chuckle. In the end he wasn’t up to attending the event, and so MC Ian Watson read Rob’s poem out (brilliantly!) to an appreciative audience.

    And that’s how I will remember Rob — witty, wise and a wonderful friend. We we miss his slightly befuddled yet always entertaining presence at the freelancers’ Christmas lunch this year, but I am sure that we will raise a glass (or two!) in his memory.

    My deepest condolences to Sarah, his family and his friends. As Kim says, he went from our lives far too early.

    — STEVE

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  45. I met Rob Holdstock so long ago the circumstances are lost to me, though I am fairly certain Paul Kincaid introduced us. I liked Rob very much from the first moment I met him – he was such fun and always so pleased to see people – but he really won my heart when he wrote Ralph Vaughan Williams (one of my favourite composers, even now) into a fantasy novel. Who could not love a man who would do that?

    It seems incomprehensible that he is no longer with us.

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  49. My sympathies to his familly and friends. Robert’s writing transported me to wonderful places and made the real world seem a different place.

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  50. Rob and I met in the early 70s. We drank together, were once in the same writers’ group (when I had the remarkably silly idea that I might be a writer) and worked on three novels – he as writer, me as publisher: THE FETCH, CELTIKA and THE IRON GRAIL.

    He was a great friend for almost forty years and a great writer, who I was privileged to publish, and most of all an irreplaceable, lovely bloke. Love and very best wishes to Sarah and his family.

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