Brian Randall - 1/2014

[Dracos]

Brian Randall, dear friend to many of us, is no longer with us. 

I received a phone call earlier tonight that in depression, he took his life today, January 17th, 2014.  He was a talented author, a friendly gamer, and a close friend.  I don't know what to say.  He left several messages for many of his friends, and I'll try and reach out to all of you to get them to you privately.

In his will, he left a general message:

"All the other Soulriders and Kitago...jin: Most of you were pretty cool.  Thanks for putting up with me as long as you did."

---

On February 1st, his family will be having a tribute to his life/sendoff.  This is planned to be a morning/early afternoon event.  If you are going to be traveling out, please let me know.  I've given a base count to his old man who's handling all of that, but just in case.

This will be held at Sneha restaurant in Sunnyvale (near Lawrence and Central expressways) from 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturday, February 1st 2014.  Please pass this along to anyone who might be able to make it.  It's booked for 60, and has room for twice that, so anyone who can come to remember him, please feel free to.

Additionally, Rez and I are working to get photos up on Brian's site.  They're linked from his front page: http://soulriders.net/brian/photos/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


All,

I'm not going to dwell on what a kind and gentle person Brian Randall was. That was clear to anyone who had the privilege to know him. He was a wonderful son, a talented and prolific writer, an exacting QA engineer, and a generous and caring friend.
He was the best, and everyone has moved up a rung with his passing.

A Celebration of Life for Brian is going to take place at Sneha South & North Indian Restaurant Saturday, February 1st, from Noon until 3 PM. The address is 1214 Apollo Way, Sunnyvale, CA, and is near the intersection of Lawrence and Central Expressways.

This invitation is open to everyone, so if Brian touched your life in some way, please take advantage of this opportunity to have some food and mingle with others lucky enough to call him family, or coworker, or friend.

Brian was not a formal person, so casual attire is preferred. And in lieu of flowers, I think Brian would have liked you to instead to reach out to someone you love. Tell them you love them. Give them a hug. Any goodbye might be the last goodbye. Make it count.

Thanks, Marlon

[Dracos]

Moved here so people can talk and mourn in their own way.

[Anastasia]

God rest and help his soul. Condolences to all his friends and family.

Wish there was something better to say when things like this happen.

[Carthrat]

RIP, Brian. I hope you found what you were looking for.

Condolences to all those who were close to him. I admired his imagination and wit, and wish I'd known him better.

[GeshronTyler]

Reading his stories gave me hours of pleasure, and some favorites will now remain forever unfinished.

[CyMage]

Rest in peace, Brian.  We will keep you in our memories.

My condolences to all his friends.

[samuez]

A lot of people never knew the man personally but that doesn't mean he didn't amazed us all with his stories. I email to him once and he was kind and good-nature about my request, and that was enough for me.

I will miss him and what he contribute to the world.

RIP Brian Randall. May you find happiness in the next world than you did in this one.

[Napping_Cat]

Years ago I was extremely depressed over a nasty breakup and none of my family or friends really did anything. Brian's story "Process of Elimination" was often the only thing I had to look forward to, and I sometimes worry what might have happened if I didn't have the distraction.

I can only wish that he'd could have had a similar distraction to help avoid this unhappy end to his life story. He will be severally missed.

[Ergoemos]

I didn't know Brian very well, but I will miss him. His work is a testament to his skill, and I will be forever grateful to have around to enjoy, complete or not.

My condolences to all those who feel his absence even more.

[Empyrean]

I really don't know what to say. His writing is what brought me here in the first place, and any fandom he wrote for was better for his contributions. There are far too few great writers, and with this, we lost one of my favorites.

[Ebiris]

RIP Brian. You won't ever hear this, but we didn't just put up with you, we were better off for your presence.

[Folcon]

I saw this only half an hour ago, and it's only just hit me. I first came here to tell Brian that I loved his work Motivation and hoped he would complete it. I exchanged a few emails with him and was pretty happy someone I saw as such an wonderful wordsmith was also such an approachable person.

To quote Hector from the History Boys, "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."

I'm not sure when I'll be back here, but though I didn't know him well, he made an appreciable impact in a personal way. He certainly was to echo Ebiris, more than someone I put up with.

RIP Brian.

[Jason_Miao]

I woke up, saw this, and sat an hour trying to think of what to write.  Still haven't quite figured it out but don't want to put this off for much longer, so this may be a bit disjointed.

I first knew Bri through the FFML in the end of the 90s-early 2000s, when it was the main fanfic writing venue on the internet.  His writing was easily distinguished from many others on the mailing list even back then.  As the internet expanded from a network that mainly college students and techy people joined to something everyone joined, many of the great writers faded into obscurity, but Bri continued to make a name for himself.

I never had the opportunity to meet him in real life, having only chatted through email, IRC, and this forum.  But of the parts of him that I knew, much like many of his stories, there were was a great deal that I liked, a few parts that I was ambivalent about, but still felt better off having experienced the whole.  Also like many of his stories, I regret that there wasn't a bit more.

[Yuthirin]

GOD DAMMIT

[Iron Dragoon]

Met him in Austin for a few days. He was a nice guy, if a little nervous/shy around others. Seemed like he would have made a great friend. I regret not having engaged him more often.

Regardless, I hope he's in the right place to find what he needed.