Flaming Out -- Not Just for SMOFs No More

[lsanderson]

DIFFERENT VIEWS Photos retrieved from the trash cleared out of the apartment of F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, where he died in a June 25.
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: September 10, 2010

F. GWYNPLAINE MacINTYRE lived in two dimensions.

The F stood for Fergus. That was how neighbors in his working-class neighborhood in deep Brooklyn knew him: a bearish pariah holed up in a fetid apartment stuffed with a lifetime of newspapers, books, belongings and all sorts of trash, who worked nights as a printer in Manhattan and ranted about his horrid childhood.

The F also stood for Froggy. That’s what fans in the rabid science-fiction world on the Internet called him: a witty and eloquent man prone to using obscure words and coining new ones, who published numerous books, articles and short stories to great acclaim and spun fantastic tales about his travels.

Both were vaporized June 25. In a dramatic farewell that could have come from Froggy’s pen, Mr. MacIntyre, according to fire officials, methodically set ablaze the contents of the apartment in Bensonhurst where he had lived for a quarter-century. First the flames consumed a lifetime of possessions; then they feasted on his weary flesh, ending his painful 59-year earthly existence. Born in Scotland, raised in Australia — or so he said, in his impeccable British regional accent — he now lies unclaimed in a Brooklyn morgue. More

Fiery End for an Eccentric Recluse

Comments

[dotar-sojat.livejournal.com]

This is crazy! Is this for real?

Oh yes

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

The NY Times isn't big on joke pieces...

[elizabethth.livejournal.com]

Most definitely for real - it was reported in the June 26th NY Daily News as well as the July issue of Ansible (and I think on the Locus website a while back). It might be that they're just now sure of the identity of the remains.