For Felix

This morning I had news of the death of Felix Grant, my colleague and friend of some 25 years. It wasn't radically unexpected - he told me about his serious health problems on our last meeting (in his own words, his "sell-by date was likely to be in the same territory" as mine) - but that makes it no easier. I didn't often meet Felix in person, but that made no difference; I think he would have appreciated the pertinence of this quote from Philip K Dick.

We are served by organic ghosts, he thought, who, speaking and writing, pass through this our new environment. Watching, wise, physical ghosts from the full-life world, elements of which have become for us invading but agreeable splinters of a substance that pulsates like a former heart. And of all of them, he thought, thanks to Glen Runciter. In particular. The writer of instructions, labels and notes. Valuable notes.

He raised his arm to slow to a grumpy halt a passing 1936 Graham cab.
- Philip K Dick, Ubik, 1969

Felix has been the central and best of these 'wise ghosts' in my life for so long that his absence is hard to grasp. I might write a proper piece when it feels a little less raw.

Here are links to other appreciations:

For Felix... (Kate Raynes at Fiction Fix).
For Felix (at PsychoBabble).
Sad news (fdabristol.co.uk)
Obituary: Felix Grant 1952-2014, Scientific Computing World, February 2014
Thank You Felix (Luke Palmer Arts)

- Ray