Roanoke's sci-fi, fantasy and writing communities are mourning the passing of Rod Belcher, who published ten novels and a swath of short stories.
"R.S. Belcher, who I knew as Rod, was a writer of urban fantasy and horror, based in Roanoke," says Mike Allen, a Roanoke-based sci fi and horror writer who knew Belcher well. "It's my opinion that in terms of science fiction writing, he's the biggest thing that ever happened in Roanoke in decades, and it's just awful he's no longer with us."
Belcher's first book was "The Six-Gun Tarot," published in 2013. It was published by Tor Books, which gave Belcher a broad audience right off the bat.
"He was a wonderful writer, very much writing weird western and horror," says Amanda J. McGee, another Roanoke author. "Rod very early was published with Tor, which was one of the major fantasy publishers, and so he had a certain amount of notoriety out the gate for a local author, and so I think he really helped elevate Appalachian fantasy, Appalachian fiction, and being a writer from this region."
Belcher used those connections to boost and lift up other authors, like McGee.
"He was always rooting for you, so he was always wanting to know what I was working on, how were things going, give me advice, just really let me bounce ideas off of him," McGee says.
Carla Brindle is chairperson of MystiCon, a decades-on sci-fi and fantasy convention. She say, friends and fans largely remember Belcher for his support and encouragement.
"Over and over again, you will see people saying, 'Rod encouraged me, Rod taught me, Rod supported me,'" Brindle says.
Brindle says, Belcher's talents weren't confined just to his books. He often expressed himself by hosting and participating in role-playing games, too.
"Rod as long as I've known him has always been a storyteller, and it wasn't always writing the words on a page," Brindle says. "It was sometimes creating a story through a game. That's one of the saddest things in my mind other than the loss of Rob, is we've now lost all those stories he hadn't told us yet."
"Six-Gun Tarot" led to three sequels, set around a fictional Nevada town known as Golgotha. Another book, "Nightwise," was also followed by a sequel. Belcher also wrote "The Brotherhood of the Wheel," which is about secret organization consisting of blue-collar folks – truck drivers, EMS workers, police officers, motorcycle gangs – who battle evil.
"Rod wrote very much in the mode of the two-fisted, adventurous hard-boiled style," Allen says. "Rod very much considered himself to be an Appalachian writer, and if you read his novels that's very explicit, that's where they are set."
Besides his books, Belcher was known as a big fan of comics, Star Trek, and role-playing games. He leaves behind three children, and four grandchildren. He was 59.
