Howard Waldrop in the hospital.

Via Frank Wu:


Howard Waldrop in the hospital.
Oh gosh. Howard Waldrop has been hospitalized, and is scheduled for heart surgery Monday. Many health problems all at the same time.

Dang. Howard is one of my favorite writers. His Nebula-winning story "The Ugly Chickens" teaches me so much about writing that I need to re-read it every few months. It seems like, when alternative history became all the rage in the 80's, every third story in Asimov's was alt-hist and most of the best ones were Howard's. Let's wish him the best.

From Flogging Babel:

It's not up on Locus Online yet, but Howard Waldrop has been admitted to the Seton Medical Center in Austin and is in the ICU.

He was having trouble breathing, which seems to have been pulmonary edema brought on by high blood-pressure. His heart catheterization showed that he has multiple blockages, and some heart damage from a prior heart attack that he didn't even know he'd had, what they call a "silent heart attack."

He's going in for bypass surgery in a couple of days, after they treat a bladder infection and try to get his blood sugar under better control.

Gardner Dozois has spoken with Howard and reports that he was "amazingly cheerful, taking it all as if it was No Big Deal. Muy macho. He'd have made a good masked Mexican wrestler."

I'll keep you all posted, as more news comes in.


Instant Update

Howard's bypass surgery is set for Monday.