I'm sure some of you remember Craig and his mail-order bookstore The Time Tunnel. When I subscribed to Castle Rock, the Stephen King Newsletter back in the 80's, I discovered Craig and his Time Tunnel store in an ad in the back of one of those small, but fun, newsletters. I may even have a copy of one of his catalogs (I tend to keep stuff, especially of people I like) here in the Overlook files. Craig and I became fast friends and we had a few stories from Necon that may never see the light of day :-). Craig and I also began a tradition of bringing in food on Saturday's at midnight for the hungry (and tipsy) authors and readers at Necon. It began on a whim. We went out to get some food for ourselves - we were hungry - and finding food at Midnight in Bristol, Rhode Island is practically non-existant. But low and behold... in the middle of that moon-lit foggy night, a "Stop-n-Go" sign glowed in the distance. We bought (and heated up I might add) every sandwich they had in the coolers. It was a big hit and every sandwich was \'gone\' before you could say boo. Then we began buying pizzas at midnight the year or two following. Eventually the Necon powers that be took up the midnight feeding frenzy and now Saugies and buns are supplied (a big thank you to John who cooks for us every year!).
I found out just recently that Craig passed away in 2008. The last time I saw Craig was at Necon a few years ago. Craig had moved on from selling books years ago and started a new career in the computer field ( wow.. a real paycheck... wonder what that was like 
). He looked good and we had a great time visiting and catching up. Now that I know hes gone a flood of memories seem to be coming. Seems that happens when we know someone whos passed. Life gets busy and we cant keep up with everyone, but sometimes I wish I could. Im just glad to have known Craig he was a good friend to me and the Overlook for many years.
Craig was a musician, did you know that? Yep, he played guitar and wrote songs. I have an album he sent me once, that featured a song of his - Craig singing and playing - time to dust that one off and give it a listen. He had a lovely voice. We'll miss you man.
Dave
Thanks to Rosandra for letting me know.
You can read more about Craig Goden here:
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/OBITS/805040335&template=printart
Hi, I'm Craig Goden's daughter, Bess. I just found this article, and I want to thank you for posting it. He lost contact with a lot of his friends over the years, and so there are a lot of stories I haven't heard. If you have any more stories you'd like to share please send me a message. Thanks again, it's really nice to know that he meant so much to so many people.
ReplyDeleteBess