Jaime Lee Moyer, RIP

[catherineldf]

We lost a good soul this month. I'm phrasing it that way because Jaime was online and posting and excited about her new book, A Parliament of Queens, coming out on 2/10. And then she disappeared. If you knew Jaime, you knew that this was not normal behavior. She had recently moved to a new state and it was a rough move - she got hacked, her stuff got broken, stolen and lost in shipping and she was forced offline for a couple of weeks. Online friends compared notes, found a former coworker of hers with a phone number and got them to call her. People sent money and gift cards and helped where they could. She got back online soon after and started fighting her way back to a new normal.

This second vanishing felt weirder. I asked on FB whether anyone had heard from her or talked to her and it took a few days to get traction. This time, no one had heard back. Rae Carson and C.C. Finley offered to request a welfare check, I reached out to a mutual friend that she had done some editing for and got her new address, and the police went and checked on her. This time, the news was really bad - Jaime had left us for good. It's just heartbreaking - she was so kind and supportive of other writers and a damn good writer in the bargain. I hate that she was taken from us just as she was getting to celebrate something she loved, just as she was the brink of maybe building a better life for herself.

I met Jaime online (we never met in person) back in 2016 or so. We bonded over me selling her my World Fantasy in San Antonio membership when it became apparent I couldn't go. After that, we talked about books and cats and life. I was one of her Patreon supporters and got cat photos and occasional excerpts. We boosted each other's work and commiserated over the bad days. Jaime had a lot of friends like me, a lot of those kinds of relationships. Everyone has a story where she helped with a critique or suggestion or a kind word. She shouldn't be gone, dammit. I'm going to go finish crying. Again.
Go read her books and stories.

Comments

[elisem]

I am so sorry for your loss, and for what sounds like the world's loss too. And as you said, it is heartbreaking when someone on the brink of maybe building a better life is taken.

The acts of kindness and community support that she did will ripple outward for a long time, and that's not a bad memorial, but it's hard to have it be memorial time when it should be celebration together time.

[catherineldf]

Thank you! Sending many hugs!

[dolorosa_12]

I'm really sorry to hear this. My condolences to you, and to everyone who knew her — she sounds like an incredible person.

[catherineldf]

Thank you.

[sartorias]

So depressing. I hope it was sudden and she did not suffer, if she was alone.

[catherineldf]

She was alone and I hope so too. :-( Thank you.

[annathepiper]

Ah damn. Condolences to you on the loss of your friend, and to her family, other loved ones, and readers.

[catherineldf]

Thank you.

[marthawells]

I was so sorry to hear this. I didn't know her well but she was an important part of the writing community in Texas since she moved here. This is just so awful.

[catherineldf]

It really was. :-( I wished for much better things for her.

[queenoftheskies]

I was very sad to hear of her passing.