RIP Jack Ketchum.

There's not much that I can say as a reader of horror fiction about the passing of Ketchum that hasn't already been said.

Authors, readers, publishers and horror fans in general across the globe are remorseful for a myriad of reasons, and understandably.

In my opinion, and many others, Ketchum revolutionized the genre. Outside of his professional achievements, he was an incredibly humble, kind man.

I had the pleasure of meeting him, twice, at conventions and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the more personal interactions I've ever had with an author of his status.

I had the opportunity to share with him how my Warner books copy of The Girl Next Door had been borrowed by a former friend and never returned. We both chalked it up to it being that the book is just that good, that visceral, that outside of the genre norms and mores, that once you read it, you just had to have it.

He signed me a brand new copy and we shook hands, a horror fiction fanboy like myself left feeling like I won a prize.

I listened to his panel at the same convention and what an incredibly knowledgeable man...about the genre, about the publishing industry, about film, about writing....

As far as my individual experience with the writer, he was one of the first authors, outside of King and Koontz, that I had read. I started with Offseason, quickly followed up with The Girl Next Door and never looked back. I remember scouring the shelves of the now-defunct book chain Borders for any title of his I hadn't gotten my hands on.

He was different than anything I had ever read before. Maybe even since.

His reputation as a gory, brutal author is only the surface level of very complex writing...I can't think of another author who marries the strength of human relationships and emotion as intensely or well with said brutality. You will feel a Ketchum novel much more than read it.

Your accomplishments will forever be remembered by me and so many others.

In his inscription to my new copy of The Girl Next Door, he asked that I "hold on to this one". I absolutely will.

Rest in peace and rest well, Jack Ketchum. Thank you for some of the best reading I can think of.