Vonda died yesterday. She was one of my favorite writers: the author of Dreamsnake and The Exile Waiting, and the gorgeous The Moon and the Sun, the woman who in passing gave Mr. Sulu a first name. She was a smart, complex, generous person; I always had a sense of “huh, Vonda McIntyre knows who I am,” but that was me being star-struck, not Vonda being a star. She was also a pivotal member of Book View Cafe, and she will be missed by all of us. She finished her last book a week or so before her death, so she left one last gift.