David Eddings news

Fantasy novelist David Eddings, alas, has made Chuck Shepherd's March 18 "News of the Weird" column, under the standing headline "Least Competent People":

Novelist (27 books) David Eddings, 75, accidentally destroyed his Carson City, Nev., garage and part of his next-door office in January while he was flushing out the gas tank of his idle sports car. He said later that his intention was to remove the gasoline from the car to reduce the fire risk, but then he saw that some fluid had leaked onto the garage floor. For some reason, Eddings' curiosity about the leak (water or gasoline?) caused him to light a piece of paper and toss it onto the puddle, just to find out. "One word comes to mind," he later told the Nevada Appeal. "Dumb." [Nevada Appeal, 1-26-07]

Sadly, only a month later, Eddings' wife and collaborator, Leigh Eddings, died of a series of strokes, according to Locus Online (scroll down to the March 5 update).