I never met her. But all the same, that inextricable link between writer and reader was bridged long ago and I feel like I have know her for years. I wish I could be among the ranks of those honored enough to have known her. Pratricia Wrede thinks of her as the best kind of witch. Emma Bull remembers what it was like to be with such an absolutely electric personality. Neil Gaiman calls her a friend. To meet such a mind and a soul must have been something powerful and at the same time instantly natural, like family.
Her books reopened my imagination and gave to me the full idea of possibility. I will forever be indebted and grateful to her for that. She gave me the peculiar and the wonderful, the unique and the powerful. She showed me the strange, and that it was perfectly okay.
So many have said it better, and this is a weak memorial in comparison to those who knew her and who have written it far better, but I would not leave my voice out for all the words we know or stars in the sky. Like so many girls growing up, I was in need of hope, and strength, and a way to expand my view of the world and see it in a was I had never thought of before. Diana Wynne Jones gave that to me in rich abundance and so much more. In her stories there was almost always something there, something deeper and hidden behind the curtain, but she left it up to you to discover it. Nothing was ever simple, and rarely what it seemed on the surface. I imagine she herself was like that.
Thank you, Diana. For all you gave to those lucky enough to know you, personally, or like me, through the pages of a book. You changed me in more ways than I can here say.
I think another blogger concluded it well:
I fancy that Fantasyland has fallen very quiet today. And that every pennon of every castle, from the Tower of Sorcery to the Dark Citadel, has been lowered to honour the passing of the queen of fantasy.
This is beautiful. I remember when you recommended, several times, Howl's Moving Castle and so I bought it. I can't wait to be introduced to the worlds she's created. Even after her passing, the inspiration she has incited will always be here. And, in turn, it will encourage others to write, create, paint, and make art because of the parts of her writing that are left in people. And maybe those people who create, because of that inspiration, will inspire others. Parts of her will always be on Earth, no matter how many different worlds she has created and no matter where she is now. And that's a beautiful thing.
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