Peter David, "Writer of Stuff", had a stroke while on vacation in Florida

[Manga]

I don't really have any words of my own on the subject right now, so here's the official coverage by Peter's wife, Kathleen:

http://www.peterdavid.net/

EDIT: On first glance at my own post, it looked scarier than necessary, so before you even click that link I'll go ahead and say he IS alive and coherent.

[FatherXmas]

Well it definately sounds worse than my stoke back in June, I only (and still to some degree) loss feeling in the left side of my body.  He's exhibiting the more classic paralysis.  Other symptoms seem very familiar.  My BP was also through the roof when I got to hospital and stayed quite high during the first 24 hours (I blame it on being hooked to a monitor and the ER nurses that seemed to go out of it's/their way to keep me awake).

The brain is remarkably pliable when it's required to be.  It will take some time but I'm sure he will "seem" normal to many in a few months.  Of course he'll know he isn't.  Close friends and family will notice little changes on how he walks or how he holds things.  It'll take him a bit of time to adapt to one hand not being quite up to par when it comes to typing compared to the other.  He'll have good days and bad days.  He'll be on meds for the rest of his life to reduce the chance of it happening again with an even worse outcome.

To keep this slightly humorous and in the Star Trek vain which is where I know his writing best from, he's not in a Capt Pike chair flashing lights.

Edit: I met him once at a con.  IIRC he was involved in the B5 panel with JMS and Harlan Ellison, maybe as the host.  It was a long time ago, 1995.

[dwturducken]

I saw it posted by Neil Gaiman on Twitter, but the link he posted went to a blog post that looked like it had been posted by Peter, himself. Been keeping half an eye on it and haven't seen anything new. I did start following him on Twitter, though, @peterdavid_PAD.

[Tenzhi]

That sucks.  He's probably my favourite Hulk writer.  Indeed, I stopped picking up the comic when he left and then they proceeded to destroy everything he had set up.

[Victoria Victrix]

Well, the good news here is that he seems to be recovering some use of his limbs relatively fast, and his wife is right, you can train the brain to make up for that.  The better news is that it doesn't sound as if the cognitive parts of his brain were affected.  For a writer, that is the worst possible nightmare.

[dwturducken]

Not to drag this into morbidity, but the guy who ran the game store when I was a kid was Kim Eastland. He did a bit of this and that, but the first book I had of his was the Star Frontiers expansion, Zebulon's Guide to Free Space. He did a couple of other things (some articles for Dragon, some Gamma World stuff), but his vision was what betrayed him. Granted, this was in the 80s, before computers really came into their own, or Lasik came along, for that matter. Anyway, the damage was done. To the best of my ability to tell, he hasn't written anything for publication, since. He's part owner of a mystery/dinner theater, so he's still expressing his creative side, but I've always felt for the guy.

To bring it back on topic, I've always had a fondness for Mr. David, creatively. I'm glad he's getting better. (You know. Should anyone have a more direct line to him than Twitter.)

[Victoria Victrix]

To bring it back on topic, I've always had a fondness for Mr. David, creatively. I'm glad he's getting better. (You know. Should anyone have a more direct line to him than Twitter.)

I'm just reading his wife's blog, with some personal knowledge having had relatives and a mentor (MZB) with strokes.

Just FYI, the sooner you can get to the hospital, the faster they can cut off the damage.  Better an unnecessary trip to the hospital than waiting too long.

[Arnabas]

That sucks.  He's probably my favourite Hulk writer.  Indeed, I stopped picking up the comic when he left and then they proceeded to destroy everything he had set up.

Same. I'd love to see his run on Hulk collected like Simonson's Thor, but supposedly Marvel didn't think it was popular enough to get that treatment.

[Victoria Victrix]

From Peter's Blog:

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Even though we have health insurance we have co-pays and the like. And since this stroke fell at the end of the year, we have all the new co-pays to deal with (I can honestly see those of you who have had to deal with this nodding your heads). And there are things that the insurance company just won't cover (more head nodding). So we are at the beginning of what is going to be a very expensive year even though we are only 4 days in.

The most direct way is to buy his books from Crazy 8 Press (via ComicMix) or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. These are books that he gets the money from directly and the most per book.

His current Crazy 8 Press books are:

Pulling Up Stakes Part 1
Pulling Up Stakes Part 2 (Brand new)
This is one novel broken into two pieces. This is the cover blurb
Sick of vampire books? Movies? TV shows? Yeah. So are we. Sick of the entire unlife of vampires? Yeah. So is Vince Hammond. Unfortunately, Vince is in it up to his (wait for it) neck. Because Vince is a young vampire hunter who lives with his vampire hunter mother in an entire community of vampire hunters, who in turn are part of a cult of vampire hunters going back all the way to the French Revolution, which many believe to be an uprising of the poor against the rich but was actually a massive purging of vampires from the French nobility (hence the guillotine)

The Camelot Papers
A powerful ruler who's considered by many to be simple-minded and vacuous and has serious father issues. A no-nonsense, polarizing woman who favors pants suits and pursues dubious agendas involving social needs. A remarkably magnetic leader of men with a reputation as a skirt-chaser. A scheming, manipulative adviser who is constantly trying to control public perceptions. A man seen as the next, great hope for the people, except there are disputes over his background and many contend he's not what he appears to be.
George W? Hillary and Bill? Karl Rove? Obama?
Try Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and Galahad.
Whatever you think of the state of today's politics, The Camelot Papers shows you just how little matters have changed in the past thousand years or so. The Camelot Papers presents a fresh perspective on Arthurian legend by using modern day sensibility and combining it with a classic tale to bring a new insight into iconic characters.

The Hidden Earth Saga of which there are two published and the third is in the works.

Darkness of the Light (book 1 of the Hidden Earth saga)
Height of the Depths (Book 2 of the Hidden Earth saga)

These are science fiction mixed with mythological creatures and the fate of the Universe hangs in the balance. Big epic sweeping books with those great characters that Peter is famous for writing.

There are Print on Demand for all these books if you want a paper copy rather than electronic.

More HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you already have these or can't purchase them for whatever reason, you can still help us a lot by getting word out all over the Internet about how they can help Peter. I am asking every blogger and people who have access to an audience to spread the word.

The more we sell of these books, the easier it will be for us to pay the bills as they start to pour in.

Buying his other books does help but that is very long term and isn't much per books but it does help especially the Marvel graphic novels he has written.

[Tenzhi]

I may have to order Hidden Earth Saga.  That one sounds interesting to me.  Have to look it up on Amazon when I'm in a position to do something about it.