Walt Staples was a a great writer. I never met him in person, but by the magic of the internet, I came to know him through the Catholic Writer’s Guild. Walt died suddenly a couple weeks while waiting at a bus stop. He would probably comment something to the effect that he unintentionally caught the right bus home.
Walt was a great writer. He was a master at what he did. He was funny, kind, humble, and was always willing to help out novice hacks like myself. Karina Fabian knew Walt much better than I did and she offered a great tribute post to Walt at the Catholic Writer’s Guild blog.
Walt told me one time in a chat to check out a short story he published at Digital Dragon Magazine called, A Feather’s Fall in Vacuum. It was the only time he even remotely “pushed” a work of his and it was only a mild suggestion. I felt like Charlie Bucket opening that Wonka Bar with the final golden ticket inside. I went from wondering where in the heck Walt was going with this story to laughing my butt off for about three hours after finishing it. Beautiful story.
The only proper tribute I could ever give to Walt Staples is to share the link to that story and another from Digital Dragon with as many people as I can. These two stories are my favorite works of Walt’s, and in my humble opinion, are masterpieces of short fiction.
We will miss his talent, we will miss his quirky sense of humor, but mostly we will miss the Walt at the Catholic Writer’s Guild. Please pray for his people and friends. Read the stories and check out more of his stories from the links on his blog, Variable Credence. Laugh, learn and giggle out loud as you read them, Walt would appreciate that.
THE COACH HAYS 