This morning, I woke up at 5 am to go to work and saw a confusing, but ominous facebook post. When I had time to follow-up on it, I learned that P.G. Holyfield has been diagnosed with aggressive, late-stage cancer. The here-today-gone-tomorrow kind of cancer. Days-to-live kind of cancer. Sudden-massive-organ-failure kind of cancer.

This is wretched beyond words.

P.G. Holyfield is the author of a podcast novel called Murder at Avadon Hill. It was either the first or the second fullcast podcast that I ever heard (I found Avadon Hill and T. Morris's Billibub Baddings at about the same time). Before Chris Lester or Dan Sawyer, there was P.G. Holyfield, creating wonderful sound-scapes with casts of voice actors. P.G.'s work had a direct influence on how I chose to produce Cowry Catchers. I also found Beth Quist's music by following also-listens from the music that P.G. had used. I had this mental imagine of P.G. sitting in a castle-studio with ethereal music wafting around him, turning mysterious nobs and pressing buttons (that was before I actually did any fullcast production).

Later, I asked P.G. to do a cameo in Cowry Catchers. He was the voice of Leopaard Maijha, Gwain's father, in Book 2. His voice work was swift and professional, and he was unfailingly kind and friendly in emails.

I met P.G. for the first time in real life at Dragon Con 2010, about the same time that I met Norm in real life. I've since seen P.G. at just about every Balticon and Dragon Con I've attended. He was usually kitted out in dapper steam-punk attire and always had a crowd of people around him. It will be bizarre and sad not to see him at conventions anymore.

P.G. has three children who have been blindsided by this. His family and friends have started a GoFundMe campeign to offset medical costs and help care for his young kids. If you can spare a few bucks and want to say thank you for the ways in which he's influenced my work, go here.

P.G., if you get a chance to read this, thank you so much for the inspiration and entertainment you provided. Thank you for lending your lovely voice to Cowry Catchers. Thank you for putting beautiful things into the world. Whether you step off the stage tomorrow or beat all the odds and stick around for years to come, the things you’ve made will outlive you. They will continue to be bright and beautiful long after you’re gone. Thank you.