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The Bristol writing community is saddened and shocked by the sudden death of David J Rodger, horror writer, gamer, RPG creator, consummate coffee-drinker and debonair man-about town.

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David with Yellow Dawn, the RPG he created

David’s novel “The Social Club” was the first novel to be launched by the BristolCon Fringe, and he read at Fringe events a few times. He was a master of the macabre and the deliciously creepy, a fan of Lovecraft and Poe and all things tentacular. He was a great supporter of fellow writers. He loved to travel, and to meet up with people over coffee or a fry up and take a photo of the occasion – his Facebook page is full of pictures of his many friends taken in pubs and cafes all over the country.

But all the while David was slipping quietly away from us. He hid it well, but he was being eaten up by depression so severe it was physically painful and draining. Despite the many projects he had on the go, despite his ambitions and the support of his many friends, it all became too much, and it overwhelmed him in the end.

Sometimes, no matter how much a person is loved and supported, as David was, things just reach a zenith of awfulness beyond which you cannot see. The feeling of depression can be a series of doors slamming in your face, forever, until no matter how you twist and turn you can’t see any way out of the place you are in. I hope wherever David is now, he has found some peace.

Local author Thomas David Parker was good friends with David, and he has some lovely words on his blog for him, and about him.

RIP, DJR. You will be missed.

 

http://www.samaritans.org/

http://www.mind.org.uk/