Winchell Chung Terminal Diagnosis

[elbmc1969]

Winchell Chung, the artist who illustrated the first edition of Ogre and originated the classic designs for the Ogre, GEV, and the other vehicles, has a terminal diagnosis. Of course, the Ogre miniatures are based on his designs.

From Ken Burnside:

Winchell Chung, AKA Nyrath, the curator of Atomic Rockets, has what appears to be a terminal diagnosis.

Winchell's family has a succession plan in place for someone to take over hosting and curation of Atomic Rockets. I've offered my assistance on that if it's needed.

Winchell is a painfully shy person. Nothing pleased him more than having people refer back to his site and cite his work. If the work he put into the last twenty years of his life changed your life for the better, please write him a note in this Google Document. I'll be sending it on to him later tonight.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

(For those not familiar, the massive Atomic Rockets site is something of a bible for harder SF, mixed with huge amounts of "history of SF." It provides immense amounts of information about real space/spaceship/space weapon science, astronomy, and about a million other things. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/ )

[Buzzardo]

Damn, damn, and double damn!

I added a brief statement of what his art has meant to me. If you love his work, too, I encourage you to do the same.

[selenite]

It's grim news. I've found a lot of use in the Atomic Rockets site, and even more entertainment. I put Winchell's alter ego in my current series as a cameo. He's a hell of a good guy.

[doctorevilbrain]

That's really bad news. I go on Atomic Rockets all the time. What caused the diagnosis? How old is he?

[elbmc1969]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

That's really bad news. I go on Atomic Rockets all the time. What caused the diagnosis? How old is he?

Details have not been released.

IIRC, Winch was 17 when he did the art for Ogre. Do the math :)

[HeatDeath]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

That's really bad news. I go on Atomic Rockets all the time. What caused the diagnosis? How old is he?

https://twitter.com/nyrath/status/1436010987086286853

[stefanj]

Appreciation posted.


Man, this really sucks. Winchell and I got into SF&F gaming at about the same time, and it turns out, via Twitter that we shared a lot of the same faves. Including really obscure ones. Like, how many people have played Zocchi's ALIEN SPACE? Winch not only played it, but made 3D sculpts of the spaceships!



I really hope some treatment or other can knock the cancer back. Prostate cancer is treacherous; there's a saying that most men will die WITH it, but not OF it. That is, a lot of guys develop tiny specks of abnormalities, but they never cause trouble. But when it is a problem, it can develop undetected.


So . . . get that annual physical and that humiliating test, guys.

[Aman]

sigh...

Prayed.

Won't ever forget the amazing artwork.

[stefanj]

"FYI," Winchell is still on active twitter. He's been favoriting my posts about my latest rocketry projects. (His father was a model rocket builder, and knows the names of the Back in the Day kits I build / recreate.)


No updates on health. I am hoping he is receiving "superhero origin story" levels of radiation and chemo.

[flyingwombat]

Originally Posted by stefanj

"FYI," ...

No updates on health. I am hoping he is receiving "superhero origin story" levels of radiation and chemo.

Let us hope so.