R.I.P. Peter David

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

No, not me. A different one. And if you think some of my friends were startled to see my name at the top of an announcement that “Peter David” had died in a car crash, I gotta tell you it’s inCREDibly creepy to see your own name in that headline.

The Peter David who has left us was an editor and writer at “The Economist,” and I actually spoken to him one time. You see, Mr. David had written a book called “Triumph in the Desert” about Operation Desert Storm. And a number of people had come up to me at conventions asking me to sign it. Even though the bio wasn’t mine. Even though the photograph obviously wasn’t me. But people kept presenting it to me.

So I decided to try and get in touch with the guy to tell him about it. It wasn’t hard; I found the main number for “The Economist,” called, and asked for his office.

I was put through and a woman with a crisp British accent said, “Peter David’s office.”

I said, “May I speak to Peter David?”

“Who may I say is calling?”

“Peter David.”

Without the slightest hesitation, she said, “Hold on, please.”

Moments later a deep British voice said, “This is Peter David.”

I said, “Mr. David, you don’t know me, but my name is also Peter David, and I’m also a writer. And I thought it would amuse you to know that people keep asking me to autograph your book, ‘Triumph in the Desert.'”

And he replied, “Would you be the reason that people keep asking me to sign ‘Star Trek’ novels?”

We chatted for a few minutes and this guy was so nice to a total stranger. I wish I could actually have met the guy.

This sucks.

PAD

53 comments on “R.I.P. Peter David”

  2. I remember this story. The fact that the both of you could connect for a few minutes, even if over the phone, is pretty darned neat. Still makes me smile.

    Wildcat

  3. Jeez… Dude, don’t write blog thread titles like that. All I saw on the header of the email I got from the website’s system was R.I.P. Peter David. That was not a cool few seconds there.

    Nice story though. Too bad you never got to meet face to face at least once.

      2. Well, I suggest you live this up, because you’re never going to live it down

  5. Sorry to hear of this. I was familiar with his work too. And I can’t imagine the feeling of hearing your name being linked to someone’s death! Prayers of comfort for his family at this time.

  6. Patrick Macnee reports in his autobiography, Blind in One Ear that people confused fellow actor Patrick Magee with himself when Magee died.

    1. I gave my ex-wife and her then-boss at Atlanta’s lamented SF & Mystery Bookshop a jolt when i walked in one day and announced “Tom Clancy died.”

      The Irish singer, that is.

  7. I’ve gotta ask: Did you get to tell him that you also wrote comic books, especially Spider-Man or The Hulk? If so, what did he say to that?

  8. I’ve read the Economist a lot, and I never noticed that they had a Peter David there. I guess it’s because their articles are usually only credited to initials.

  9. And if you think some of my friends were startled to see my name at the top of an announcement that “Peter David” had died in a car crash, I gotta tell you it’s inCREDibly creepy to see your own name in that headline.

    I can only imagine …

  10. Yeah, my heart sank for a c0uple seconds also.
    .
    Don’t DOOOOOOO that!

  11. PAD,

    Don’t do that! For about 5 seconds I was in shock! Your punishment for scaring your fans must be writing Incredible Hulk again along with X-Factor AND it must crossover with Star Trek: New Frontier. Also Young Justice must have a cameo. I think that is a good “punishment”. 😉

    1. You forgot Supergirl. Not to mention Fallen Angel. And…

      This could take a while.

  12. A few years ago, I tried giving up Agnosticism for Lent, and I attended a mass in Irish in Canton, MA. You can imagine my shock when they had a moment of silence in the mass for a recently deceased parishioner — who had the exact same name as me. It was incredibly eerie, especially since I hadn’t willingly gone to church in a long time before then.

    My thoughts go out to your friend. May he rest in peace.

  13. PAD,

    Don’t do that! For about 5 seconds I was in shock! Your punishment for scaring your fans must be writing Incredible Hulk again along with X-Factor AND it must crossover with Star Trek: New Frontier. Also Young Justice must have a cameo. I think that is good “punishment”. 😉

  14. This really is terrible. He sounded like a nice guy. It would have been great if you both had an opportunity to work on something together. This sort of thing can never happen to me. If I see a death notification with my name on it, I will know my dastardly plan to fake my own death and collect my life insurance has worked. I obviously am not serious about faking my death…wink.

    1. I can see it now – Lee (FALLEN ANGEL) explains the European debt crisis.

      I’d have said X-Factor – but even the three people in the universe who *do* understand it would be confused after that bunch got done “explaining” it. I mean, you *know* Guido’s going to be making some stuff up, and that Longshot (at least) would believe him….

  16. While it is, indeed, sad that the other Peter David passed away, I have to say I’m glad you’re still around.

  17. Peter,
    Glad you’re still alive; you’ve still got to write more ‘Ðámņëd World’ series. Don’t be a Robert Jordan or (gods forbid) eLron Hubbard and leave before finishing a series.

    Seriously, as someone with an unusual name and lacking relatives, I was quite surprised to find I have three ‘Google-gangers’ (doppelgangers found through Google) as well as outraged to see the lead singer for Jag Panzer occupying the first ten pages of results when I looked up my own name. We’ve become friends on Facebook. It’s always fun to ‘like’ a comment of his; it makes him look narcissistic for anyone to read ‘Mark Briody likes this’.
    [word origin – probably the play “I Google Myself”]

  18. OK, that was just MEAN. The fact that my internet is acting up and it took me three attempts to load the page just made it worse!

    I also have an unusual name (at one point in my life, there were three phone listings with my surname in the entire state. My immediate family, my uncle, and my grandfather… Now it’s down to two). So imagine my surprise when, upon a google search, I discovered another me living in another state… about a mile away from one of my closest friends.

    But reading about your own death in a headline has to be much, much worse.

  19. Try geting a phone call from a bill collector who has you confused with someone of the same name. At least it wasn’t identity fraud.

    But, glad you ain’t dead. It’s always a shock to see a death announcement for someone you know — or at least have a “connection” with.

  20. I am also suddenly reminded of an episode of “The West Wing.” Josh saw a report where a pilot who shared his birthday was shot down (or crashed?) and had a PTSD flashback to the time he was shot.

    Just — don’t wig out on us, (any more than usual, that is), is all I’m saying.

      1. Well– it wasn’t actually me (I don’t think) but a maple syrup farmer from Vermont named Jesse Willey.

  22. Oh, Peter, there’ll never be another you like you.

    Perhaps it’s just for a year or so, for tax reasons?

    OTOH, my sympathies to his family. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls…”

  24. I am a London based journalist, a close friend and neighbour of the deceased Peter. While I am pleased that you are alive, I just felt the need to say that Peter ( with whom I recently spent a week in Wasington DC) was one of he world’s real gents. Quiet, self affecting, and with an enviable sense of humour, he was nevertheless one of the most erudite and incisive writers I have ever come across, and the world of journalism is infinitely poorer without him. He was due to return to London next year at he end od his five-year stint as The Economist’s bureau chief. There will. Be a full tribute to him in the forthcoming edition of The Economist. In the meantime I am shattered by this loss.
    Matthew

    1. Please accept my deepest condolences on your loss. As I said above, I was impressed by what a class act he was when this total stranger called him about the fact that they had identical names and shared similar hassles about being mistaken for each other. If that’s how he treated someone who was a stranger calling up out of the blue, I can only imagine how he was with close friends. I’ve never actually bought a copy of “The Economist” before, but I will be looking for the next issue to read more about him. Thank you for taking the time to comment here.

      PAD

  25. Meeting your name doppelganger is always fun. I was in line at a Diamond Distributor event in Madison,WI when I met mine. It is a rare event when your name is French-Canadian (John-Paul Côté) and you live in the Midwest.

  26. Meeting your name doppelganger is always fun. I was in line at a Diamond Distributor event in Madison,WI when I met mine. It is a rare event when your name is French-Canadian (John-Paul Côté) and you live in the Midwest.

  29. I just had a weird one like this. Had a woman call me to produce a video, and then she asked me which one I was, because she’d gone out with someone with my exact name. The voice didn’t sound like the Big Ex-Girlfriend, and I hadn’t been either bored to tears or wanted to gnaw my own leg off to get away from her, so it wasn’t either of the other two ex-girlfriends, so I figured it was safe.

  30. And then, there was the case years ago where a friend saw someone at a science-fiction convention with a name badge that read “Kim Metzger.”

    It was a woman.

      2. Well, as long as you’re comfortable in your own skin. That’s what’s important.

        PAD

    3. Ðámņ, my image of you is completely blown. I thought you were an older woman who’s been reading comics since the Silver Age, which is, of course, not something you see every day. Or ever.

    4. I admit to surprise also…I had always thought you – and Sasha until he revealed otherwise – were female. Oh, well..

      1. Sigh. Okay, I was born as the Korean War was ending and Kim was a popular name for girls and boys then.

        I’ve been active in fandom off and on since the 1960s, with two particular claims to fame since then:

        1) I designed the outfit that Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes wore during the 1970s.

        2) I was the assistant to Don and Maggie Thompson on “Comics Buyer’s Guide” from August 1983 to February 1987.

        During my time on the CBG staff, I was sent a photocopy of the first issue of DC’s first “Ambush Bug” mini-series so I could write a letter for the second issue. After it was published, I got a letter from some desperate fanboy who was astonished that girls might read comic books and did i want to correspond with him? I let him down gently and sent him a copy of CBG.

        And, Peter — it was sweet, but you can stop sending me flowers and those hot e-mails. I promise, I won’t tell Katherine.

  31. A few years ago, a colleague of mine on a gaming forum sent me a confused message, as they had just been interviewed by Peter Svensson but it didn’t seem like it was me and what’s up with that? Turns out that there’s a dopplenamer of me who writes for the Associated Press. (Well, since I’m younger, I suppose I’m a dopplenamer of him!) I tracked him down and we briefly exchanged e-mails, and joked about the several other Peter Svenssons who are extant.

    I’m now using my middle initial to differentiate myself from him in my writing career. I still get people who read an article of his in the paper and congratulate me on hitting the big time though.

  32. Well, I know how you felt, Peter. Last week, I heard that one of the Morvan Brothers (three traditional, kan ha diskan, Breton singers, not related to me, AFAIK) had died. I almost called my own brother, given that I am still alive.

    I think…

  33. Mr. David,

    In case you were wondering what you’re doppleganger looks like:

    http://www.economist.com/node/21555558

    Too bad about his death. I’m not much into journalism writing, but he may be an interesting writer for me to check out.

    Thanks for the time and attention.

    Godspeed,

    Travis(a comic book fan)

  34. Coming in very late to this … the story is a bit creepy, but I wasn’t frightened seeing it here, since I’d already seen a mention of the death elsewhere and flipped out THEN.

    As for doppelgangers (or Googlegangers, which is a word I need to start using) … when I was a sophomore in college, I got a letter from the Planetary Society talking about various scholarships they offered.

    Signed, “Tim Lynch.”

    Riiiiight, I thought, and congratulated a couple of friends on a good prank.

    They insisted they had nothing to do with it.

    I wound up calling the Society up and asking, “do you have a head of scholarship programs named Tim Lynch?”

    “Why yes, we do. Would you like to speak with him?”
    “No, thanks … I just wanted to verify his existence. Y’see…”

    Fun times. There was also a Tim Lynch working at Cornell while I was a student there, but neither one of us knew it until after I’d left for grad school.

    Price of a common name, I suppose…

  35. If any1’s been watching ESPN’s 30 for 30, its a great documentary series on sum of the best stories in sports history. Possibly one of the best episodes is “The Two Escobars”, a tale of beloved Colombian player Andres Escobar and his murder by the Pablo Escobar drug cartel for his accidental self goal during the 1994 World Cup. One of the drug lords responsible for the hit… Peter David.

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