Jean Rabe

Sorry to hear today of the death of Jean Rabe.  Jean was head of the R. P. G. A. when I first came on board at TSR (in October  1987 I think it was). My first contacts there were actually through the book department (via friend Jim Lowder) and the RPGA (then the domain of Jean, ably assisted by Skip Williams).  

That first discussion with Jean of a job at TSR didn't pan out due to my (a) living in Milwausee at the time and (b) not having a car. Instead I helped out with various tournaments and the like (e.g. providing sets of pregenerated characters for sanctioned events). A few months later I was more successful, joining the R&D department as a game editor, along with fellow 'new fish' Rich Baker (designer), Thomas Reid (editor), and a few weeks later Tim Beach (RPGA).

Through the chaos that was what we might call mid-period TSR, Jean ruled over her own fiefdom, acting pretty much independently of R&D (e.g. the Living City/Raven's Bluff project). If I rember rightly (eventually the comings and goings get conflated) she had moved over into R&D and later still was one of those who decided not to follow TSR to the west coast. 

If I had to sum up Jean in a word, it would be Kindness. Rest in peace.

  

So, how easy is it to spot the common thread in this list of names?

 

Andria Heyday

Anne Brown

Karen Boomgarden

Dori Watri

Julia Martin

Jean Rabie

Barb Young

Sue Weinlein

Carrie Bebris

 

2026 Calendar

So, another year, another Tolkien calender. A while back I went back and sorted them by year. It made quite a pile, and the shift of style from year to year is interesting. My favorite, after those by Tolkien himself (esp the early ones),  is the 1994 one by Michael Kaluta, which had a Finnish look to me.  Which is not to say there have not been some God-awful examples over the years (the Hildebrants come to mind). 

This year (2026) features another by Alan Lee, who has a distinctive style, providing a sort of continuity. Lee is not only good but had the advantage that Christopher liked him.

My own vote for an artist (contempory if now somewhat long in the tooth)  to illustrate JRRT is Thomas Canty, whose art reminds me strongly of art nouveau  and art deco:  Many of his pieces look like stained glass windows. Underrated.

Other than that, I saw THE BOVADIUM FRAGMENTS on the shelves of a mainstream bookstore (Barnes & Noble) today, which makes me think we're approaching the saturation point for works by Tolkien.  I intend to enjoy it while I can.

--current reading: five books, the least interesting of whch is A. A. Milne's ONCE UPON A TIME (1922), an attempt by the Pooh author to  write a fairy tale for adults. Milne had many talents, but it turns out writing a book like this one is not one of them. This sarcastic nudge-nudge wink-wink of a book deserves all the strictures Tolkien made on Milne in OFS.

--John R