kengr

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/a/2025-12-05

Leslie Fish, multiple-award-winning singer, songwriter, author, and gadfly, passed away last week.

Leslie and I were friends from conventions decades ago. In more recent years we both traveled less and somewhat fell out of touch, but it was always great when our paths crossed again. When she was talking, I listened and argued; that was fun. When she was singing, I shut up and just listened.

I hardly know which of her talents to praise first. As a performer, she was equally comfortable in front of a big audience and in a small filk circle – and either way, she gave her all. As a composer and lyricist, her range went from the raunchy lyrics and catchy hook of "Banned on Argo" to the soaring "Hope's Eyrie." It could be argued that she invented filksinging. If she didn't invent it, she gave it wings.

Leslie was a libertarian in the old small-L sense (on the few days, that is, when she wasn't a flat-out anarchist). She was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a Second Amendment absolutist. She read Kipling and set his poems to music. She bred her cats for intelligence – which probably made her a danger to humanity, but I digress. She wrote fiction on original themes, she wrote mock-scholarly articles, and she wrote Trekfic (including one of the first K/S stories published). She did LARPs and SCA. There was no one box big enough to contain all Leslie Fish's passions, talents, and beliefs.

Oh, and she was also a Car Wars fan, which would have endeared her to me even if she couldn't sing a note.

Gonna miss her.

– Steve Jackson

PS – Much of Leslie's music is out of print. However, Prometheus Music offers several of her albums, and the sample tracks on their site will let you hear her voice.

Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action

There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/a/2025-12-05