Gabriel Garcia Marquez is dead

[LooseCannon]

For those who read things that aren't comic books or genre fiction.

One thing that has kept me from even bothering to try writing a novel (and, boy, do I have ideas) has been the understanding that I could never write something half as great as One Hundred Years of Solitude.

[EVA]

This is going to sound weird, but I was always surprised when I found out he was still alive. He wasn't even that old! But despite being a very modern author, extremely active through the 80's, his major works always had this timeless, monolithic feel to them, like they had existed for hundreds of years.

He might be the last real "classic" author. The publishing world has changed so much over the last 20 years, for the worse, I just can't see anyone else rising to that level ever again. I'm certain there are people with the talent to do it out there, but they're not going to get the kind of support from the industry to get the kind of recognition that he did.

I recommend his story collection Leaf Storm. The titular story is actually the first appearance of the town of Macondo that he would go on to feature in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Other great stories therein: "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," which was my first exposure to his work and totally knocked me out.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a fun little book, if you don't have the appetite for his larger works.