RIP Diana Wynne Jones

This news just broke my heart. I had forgotten she was ill.

Oh my...what a loss...

She was one of the very best and will be sorely missed.

I started crying when I saw this.

She is and always will be my favorite author. I'm just so, so sad; I've grown up reading her books. Every time I heard there was a new one out I'd run to the bookstore...she just made my life better with her novels.

Such a loss...I am seriously devastated. I feel as if I've lost a family member or something, her books mean so much to me.

Oh that's sad, I didn't even know she was ill.

My sister is a huge fan, she's devastated.

skyscrashesdown said:

Same. There were some serious tears this morning, and I apparently swore loudly enough when I read the news that my husband came running downstairs to see if I was okay. (Answer: no.) I had the same reaction when Douglas Adams died.

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It doesn't even feel real, y'know?

I just can't believe it.

It's like my whole life DWJ has just been there, writing these marvelous books, penning these amazing stories. And now she isn't.

Diana Wynne Jones has died

http://celebs.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979164807

Goddamn, I loved The Dark Lord of Derkholm and The Year of the Griffin so much.

This is turning into a crappy day in history.

RIP

And the thing that really kills me?

She was working on a new book.

I thought she'd died a while ago? Because she wouldn't let them make the Howl's Moving Castle movie and they had to wait until she died so they could do that...

Either way, I cried a little bit when I saw this post. Castle In The Sky and Howl's Moving Castle are some of the greatest books of all time. (Far better than the movie.)

I'll put in a vote for Archer's Goon.

The Lives Of Christopher Chant and Charmed Life for me, I fell in love with those books as a kid.

The news popped up on Neil Gaiman's twitter earlier today and pretty much ruined my already shitty day.

Oh no! Very sad.

A little piece of silver lining, from her website;

We can remember Diana through two forthcoming books. A short novel for younger readers, Earwig and the Witch, will be published in summer 2011 by HarperCollins (UK), Greenwillow (US) and Tokuma Shoten (Japan). This tells the story of young Earwig, who loved living in an orphanage and hates Bella Yaga, who chose her from the children's home and makes her do horrible jobs such as scrubbing the floor and powdering rats' bones. With the help of Thomas the Cat, Earwig solves her predicament with DWJ's trademark humour and understanding.

Secondly, next year David Fickling Publishers will be producing a collection of Diana's articles, lectures, talks, etc. This will include an introduction by Charlie Butler and an interview by him with her, probably Diana's last ever interview.

Diana's papers are being preserved by Seven Stories, the museum and archive of children's books.

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Oh no! She is my favourite author, too. She wrote so many fantastic books that always made me laugh or smile. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Thanks for letting us know. For anyone who wants to know more, her website is at http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/

I remember reading "Archer's Goon" when I was little. It was my first Diana Wynne Jones novel and I've loved her writing ever since! Loved "Howl's Moving Castle" and the Chrestomanci novels. (In fact, one of her Chrestomanci novels gave me a "what if?" idea that has only now, decades later, morphed into a novel idea!)

What a great author and a wonderful inventive person. RIP.

Oh wow. That's insane. This has not been a good month.

She's one of my favourite YA authors too.

RIP.

Sage, read Howl's Moving Castle. It's my favourite YA fantasy, and one of the rare books which had a awesome-though-not-faithful-to-the-original screen adaptaion. IMO, the Studio Ghibli movie captured the spirit of the book, which is what matters.

I found out when I got online today. I am so sad. I love her books. She was an amazing author and inspired me to write again. I will miss her.

Howl's Moving Castle is fantastic. All of Diana Wynne Jones' books are fantastic, to be honest.

Her death is so heartbreaking

Dianna Wynn Jones

Article

Dianna Wynn Jones, author of Howl's Moving Castle and The Chrestomanci Chronicles, died March 26, 2011.

To say this is upsetting news would be an understatement of her books' effect on me as a writer and a person. I found Dianna's books when I was a library page, just branching out from Xanth and the Forgotten Realms, to find out what YA fiction was all about. On the whole I remember being disappointed.

Until I picked up Charmed Life. That twisty, wonderfully weird book showed me another side of fantasy that has influenced me and my work to this day. I can see elements of it whenever I pick up a pen and dive into one of my own weirdly wonderful worlds.

I did not pick up Howl's Moving Castle until much later, but it renewed my interest, forgotten like so many things from my childhood, in Ms. Jones' books.

It's difficult to know how one is supposed to act, having never met the woman or corresponded in any way, but every single person who read one of her books got to know her at least a little bit, and I for one will miss her wit and I know the community as a whole will do the same.