You may wonder why I haven't posted anything here for nearly a week. The answer, I'm afraid, is a sad one. Entei-rah, a wonderful friend who I'd known for well over 20 years, succumbed to his cancer on Saturday, and I've been knocked sideways by the news. I'd known the destination was inevitable for some while now, I just hate so much that the end came so quickly. I'm going to miss him terribly, indeed I already do, but I'll always remember him as one of the absolute Good Guys.
Although furry was the place where Ent was most active, he was also a quiet but dedicated supporter of the MLP fandom. He was a regular presence with his wife at UK PonyCon each year, and he attended quite a few Worcester ponymeets – the last of these as recently as December. By that time we knew he was seriously ill and I suspect he found travelling down from Stockport tougher than he let on, but being Ent he was more concerned with making sure we all had a fun, light-hearted meet as usual.
Entei-rah and I first met way, way back in the Watership Down fandom in the very early 2000s, in the days when Yahoo Groups were still a thing. From there he moved into the furry fandom, and in the last decade he took more of an interest in Pony as well and supported that with the same energy and enthusiasm he put into all the many things he loved. As he said in his Twitter and then Bluesky profile, "Luna is best something something..."
Farewell, my friend.
Sorry to hear that. In all the blogs you've done about cons and meetups, I don't recall hearing you mention him before, so at first glance, I was wondering who the headline referred to.
ReplyDeleteIt's always tough.
Thank you. I have mentioned him very occasionally (my 2017 UKPC report is an example) but that's all. He didn't write fanfic, make music, etc and his more obviously visible efforts were in the furry fandom. (For example, he maintained a photo archive of many UK furmeets going back almost two decades.) In this fandom his support was quieter but no less appreciated.
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