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| Photo by Emily McMahon |
On the heels of that, it occurred that many others would have stories to tell about him. Funny ones, sad ones, inspiring ones - mostly funny ones, though. Although his stories were bleak and his life often unhappy, Joel could often be funny beyond words.
Anyway: if you have such an anecdote about Joel, one you'd like to share, drop me a line here. I'll post them on the blog on an as and when basis, so there's a permanent resource in his memory.
2 comments:
I remember one evening at a book launch when Joel was talking about Lovecraft. You never could tell when Joel was telling a joke, as he delivered everything with a very dry, deadpan delivery. And he turned to Simon and said, "I read this really interesting article the other day, where a student interviewed Lovecraft, and he asked where he got his cosmic awe from, and Lovecraft said, 'oh, from the meteorite in the back garden.'" Whenever Joel delivered a punchline, there'd be a moment where he looked up with a half smile and a glint in his eye (as he nervously rubbed his head), to see how it had gone down. Still one of my favourite jokes. I love you to bits Joel, and I miss you hugely.
I only knew Joel briefly, But I liked him a lot - I think everyone did!
My memories of Joel are his hilarious deadpan jokes (often delivered directly from a reading of one of his stories!)his satchel of goodies where a rare or pricey book could be purchased direct from the source and also he was one of the few people who could rock black Levis and a far too tight tucked-in T-Shirt and get away with it!
Lovely bloke. Wish I'd known him longer.
gcw
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