RIP, Richard C. West and Ben Bova

Seems like both Richard C. West, a respected Tolkien scholar, and Ben Bova, a well-known SF writer and two-time past president of the SFWA, both passed away on November 29th from complications due to COVID-19.

I know very little about Bova, and, honestly, not much about West. Like many other prestigious Tolkienists, I know him primarily from his scholarship. So, I can claim no friendship, certainly not like what I've been seeing in several Tolkien circles online. 

Still, let me mention two nice things about West. First, he published a conference paper of Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword sometimes in the 1960s or 1970s that I found quite helpful for my own work. Second, he actually refereed a book chapter of mine for a potential McFarland collection of essays. That fell through (or, rather, I pulled my essay after losing faith in its editor), but I still remember my pleasant surprise when I saw West's name on the peer review.***


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*** As a sign of things to come, the editor had forgotten to take off the name when she passed the review along to me.

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