Robert L. Iles–Bob, to his many friends–was a long-distance member of Southern Indiana Writers’ general-membership Yahoo group, Soinwriters, and corresponded with individual members over the years. When he did a book tour for BLOOD, THREAT AND FEARS, he came through our area and we enjoyed a wonderful face-to-face visit with him. We just learned that Bob suffered a fatal heart attack in November of 2007 (we were notified by a conscientious son-in-law who worked diligently to gain access to Bob’s email account). The loss we feel belies the claim, made by people who don’t make friends over the internet, that online friendships are shallow. It hurts when you think, “Oh, my friend would get a kick out of that,” and then you realize your friend is gone. Bob left us with a lot of that hurt, because he got a kick out of a lot of things.
Here’s a picture of some of the SIW members of that time at Bob’s Indiana book signing. We miss you, pal.
