Rory Root

Mark Evanier's blog is the only one I check more than once a day. It's almost always guaranteed to lift my spirits, and even Mark's obituaries tend to be for people who had good lives or made good things, and were not gone before their time. And then today I clicked on it and saw that Rory Root had died...

I've known him for nearly 20 years. And he was fifty -- only three years older than me.

Last time I saw Rory I told him I'd stolen his omnipresent bucket-size cup of coffee for Mrs Higgler in Anansi Boys. He was introducing me at a speaking event, something that made him uncharacteristically terrified. And I told him about the time I'd popped into Comic Relief when he wasn't there, because I was walking past and I thought I'd wave, and had come out having bought $300 worth of books...

He was one of the best comics retailers. Someone with a philosophy on selling comics and graphic novels, on respecting customers, on pushing The Good Stuff, that set him apart back in 1989, when we first met, and that put him far ahead of his time. And he was a nice guy to boot. I liked him enormously, and will miss him just as much.

Labels: Comic Relief, Rory Root