A Fond Farewell to Contributor Ray Daley
Woody Allen once said, “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying.” That, alas, is not an option for any of us. And so, we are left to live our lives in such a manner that a piece of us lives on after us. For writers, what we hope lives on is our words.
Last month, Androids and Dragons contributor Ray Daley died, leaving behind an enormous volume of words. Ray was a prolific author, with more than one hundred published short stories and poems, a blog, a few forthcoming stories (including two here at Androids and Dragons), and many more stories looking for homes. Ray will live on in those many words.
Ray was a great friend to the speculative fiction writing community, and I’d like to think he will live on in the continuing work of other writers as well. He regularly posted updates on markets where he had submitted stories, offering links to their submission pages, warning other writers about problems he encountered, and praising the editors he enjoyed working with. I have submitted stories to publications I only knew existed because of Ray, as I am certain other writers have also done. It would be impossible for me to quantify how many stories have found their way into print because of the information he shared and the encouragement he offered fellow authors, but I’m quite confident that there have been many.
Alas, I did not know Ray well. I cannot write a true eulogy, nor can I describe the full measure of the man as a human being. I can only tell you of his contributions to this publication and to the writing community. In the end, all I can offer is a fond farewell to a man who was a friend to both.
Ray Daley was born in Coventry & still lived there at the time of his death. He served 6
years in the RAF as a clerk & spent most of his time in a Hobbit hole in
High Wycombe. He was a published poet who began writing stories when he
was 10. His dream was to eventually finish the Hitch Hikers
fanfic novel he began writing in 1986. Find him on Twitter @RayDaleyWriter or
on Bluesky @raydaleywriter.bsky.social
https://raymondwriteswrongs.wordpress.com/
You can also read some of Ray’s recent stories at the following places:
“Dear Transnational Death Tank Company” was published here at Androids & Dragons on March 18, 2024.
“Field Motivator Unit 349 Joins the Townswomen’s Guild” is available in the April 2024 issue of The Lorelei Signal.
“Gimme That New Time Religion” appears in AI, Robot, an anthology from JayHenge Publishing (which also includes stories by Androids and Dragons contributors Robert Bagnall and Jennifer Lee Rossman and editor Jenna Hanan Moore).
“You Have Summoned a Demon” appears in the Spring 2024 issue of 34 Orchard.
RIP.
I was saddened to hear of Ray’s death in April. I didn’t know him well, but I joined in his submission challenges a few times, had the privilege of reading his unpublished novel, and communicated with him about submissions and markets. He was so supportive and, like you say, I learned about a lot of markets through his posting. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Ray.