re crazy or just imaginitive in article apr aurora alaska edu nsmca aurora alaska edu writes unfortunately h beam piper killed him self just weeks short of having his first book published and have his ideas see light such a waste piper lived in my town williamsport pa when he killed himself it was in the early s he had had more than a few books published by that time but he was down on his luck financially rumor was that he was hunting urban pigeons with birdshot for food he viewed himself as a resourceful man and imo decided to check out gracefully if he couldn t support himself the worst part is that john campbell the long time editor of astounding analog sf magazine had cut a check for piper s most recent story and said check was in the mail if campbell had known piper s straits i m sure he would have phoned to say hang on campbell was like that i wish it had happened differently i always enjoyed piper s stuff doug loss
