Andrew I. Porter writes:
An unidentified body, possibly that of Welsh-born author F. [Fergus] Gwynplaine MacIntyre, is being held by the Brooklyn, NY, Medical Examiner’s office, at Kings County Hospital, pending identification. The body, burned beyond recognition, was discovered in the author’s apartment in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn on Friday, June 25th. The Medical Examiner told me that they hoped to find some record of dental or other medical work, and failing that, would likely contact British authorities. If you can provide any useful information, contact the office of the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner at http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocme/html/home/home.shtml.
Google searches reveal MacIntyre—there are questions whether that is his real name—to be highly secretive about his real identity. A source told me that the body was discovered after a suspicious fire, started in four separate places in the apartment, was extinguished. In several places on the internet MacIntyre seemed to be saying goodbye, for instance on IMDB, where a review of the new version of Metropolis posted on June 24th stated, “Nitrate film stock doesn’t last forever, and all good things come to a happy ending. This is my last review here.” From http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1609079/comments.
—Andrew I. Porter
(celebrating 50 years since my first news column appeared in James V. Taurasi’s Science Fiction Times)
MacIntyre’s books include The Woman Between the Worlds (1994) and MacIntyre’s Improbable Bestiary (2005). His short fiction has appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, Interzone, and many others. His non-fiction appeared regularly in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Writer’s Digest, and in The New York Daily News. For more information on McIntyre, see his web site.
Edited 29 June 2010: Michael A. Burstein also points us to this post by MacIntyre also on 24 June in which he says he plans to gafiate for a year or so to take care of a medical problem.
Edited 11 September 2010: Corey Kilgannon, writing in The New York Times, offers this long and moving description of MacIntyre’s life and presumed death. The piece is also illustrated with photos of MacIntyre, the remains of his apartment, and a three-and-a-half-minute video.