Since I didn't know he was sick, my first reaction to his death was of

total disbelief. The last time I saw him was on Charlie Rose, about a

year ago, and even when he looked suddenly older, didn't take his sober

and thoughtful stance as anything else than age. Sadly, it wasn't that

way.

To me, Mr. Crichton's death is very painful because I always dreamt of

meeting the man who inspired me to write my own stories, after taking

his style as a school. He made it look so easy, but not until I tried

it by myself I realized the man was a master at keeping it simple,

quick, and entertaining.

My first Crichton book was Jurassic Park, and three months later I had

read everything he had published until that time. After JP, my next

favorite is The Great Train Robbery and then The Andromeda Strain. His

worst, in my opinion, State of Fear.In fact, it was after I read State

of Fear that I decided to finally

dedicate my life to writing. I read it on a flight from New York to

Honolulu in January 2005 and was seriously disappointed by the poor

effort. Interesting book, I have to say, but rushed. Probably he was

sick already, who knows. The thing is, that when I finished my

girlfriend asked me if I liked it, and I answered that I had better

unpublished manuscripts at home. She told me to look for an agent.

I did, and right now my first book is almost out after a few years of

painful editions and rewritings. Personally, I don't think it is better

than anything by my late mentor (including State of Fear), and if

something makes me really miserable is that he'll never know I

dedicated the book to him.

By the way, I'm 38 years old now, which is 10 years off the date I set

after I read Jurassic Park to publish my first book. I had read

somewhere that Mr. Crichton had published his first book at 28 (which

is wrong) and I wanted to do it before or just by that time. I didn't,

but better late than never.