In this Guardian interview with novelist Nora Roberts, she states that:
“I’m told that Robert B Parker, one of my favourite authors, died at his computer. Bob – that’s just the way to go,” she says. “He was a workhorse. I’m the same.”
Dying on the job is a good way to go if you accept that someone was doing what they loved. Some of you will have heard of the recent sad and noble death of folk singer-songwriter David Olney
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/david-olney-songwriter-dead-obituary-940047/
From Wikipedia: Olney died of an apparent heart attack during a performance onstage at the 30A Songwriter Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, on January 18, 2020, at age 71. He was in the middle of his third song when he stopped, apologized and shut his eyes, according to fellow musician Scott Miller who was accompanying Olney. “David was playing a song when he paused, said ‘I’m sorry’ and put his chin to his chest. He never dropped his guitar or fell off his stool. It was as easy and gentle as he was,” Miller said.
One of my Wild West heroes, Bat Masterson, died at his typewriter; he had a remarkable life.
Those who died by their own hand, include:
Gunshot:
Ernest Hemingway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway
Richard Brautigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brautigan
Kurt Cobain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain
Hunter S. Thompson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson
Knife:
Yukio Mishima, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima
Elliott Smith https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/mar/19/popandrock.elliottsmith
Hanging:
David Foster Wallace, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace
Roy Buchanan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Buchanan
Drugs:
Abbie Hoffman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbie_Hoffman
Sara Teasdale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale
Jane Aiken Hodge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Aiken_Hodge
Jerzy Kosiński https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Kosi%C5%84ski#Death
Arthur Koestler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler#Final_years,_1976%E2%80%931983
Falling:
Primo Levi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
John Berryman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Berryman
Drowning:
Virginia Woolf, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf
Hart Crane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Crane
Spalding Grey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spalding_Gray#Health_problems_and_death
Gas:
Sylvia Plath, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath
John Kennedy Toole, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toole
Anne Sexton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton#Death
Some writers died in unexpected accidents:
Drowning:
Shelley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
Jeff Buckley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Buckley#Death
Road Traffic Accident:
Jerry Rubin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rubin,
Albert Camus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus
Harry Chapin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Chapin
Roland Barthes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes
Margaret Mitchell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mitchell#Death_and_legacy
T.E. Lawrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence
Fire:
Zelda Fitzgerald https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Fitzgerald#Obsession_and_illness
Choking:
Tennessee Williams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams#Death
Or, by murder:
Joe Orton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton #
Christopher Marlowe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe #
Joy Adamson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Adamson #
Jim Koethe https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Jim_Koethe
Philip Marshall https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Philip_Marshall
Or, by natural causes:
Heart Attack: Stieg Larsson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson
Tuberculosis: Anne Brontë https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB
Emily Brontë https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB
Bone Cancer: Arthur Rimbaud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud
Lymphoma: Michael Crichton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton
Oral Cancer: Dr Seuss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
Just as cynics say “Great career move” when a fading musician dies unexpectedly, leading to a massive boost in the sales of their albums, so it takes having The Grim Reaper as your literary agent for some writers to get anywhere.
I’ve mentioned the sad tale of John Kennedy Toole in previous threads, and it would have been fascinating to know what else he would have created. At least he hasn’t been turned into a franchise operation with hired gun authors brought in to continue the series, as happened with Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander and the long-established James Bond and Sherlock Holmes stories.
https://litreactor.com/columns/11-authors-who-became-famous-after-they-died
Writing this post has placed a chill in my heart. I’ve been close to death a few times, but am glad to have survived.
We writers should take care of our mental and physical health.
Given the choice of how to shuffle off my mortal coil, I favour Roger McGough’s ideas.
How about you?
No one wants to die editing their manuscript or reading another rejection email!
Let Me Die A Youngman’s Death
Let me die a youngman’s death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death
When I’m 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party
Or when I’m 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber’s chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides
Or when I’m 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one
Let me die a youngman’s death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
‘what a nice way to go’ death
