Yeah, one of my SF lists are discussing him as we speak. The debate seems to be whether to celebrate his work or to hope that a deeply sad person has finally found peace.

On the one hand, fandom does tend to encourage the creation of a persona, but on the other hand, I'm not sure singling out SF fandom is entirely accurate. I think every lifestyle has the potential to build just as elaborate a persona if the individual is unstable enough to begin with - think of the successful corporate mogul who one day just puts a gun to his head. Or the carefully crafted and marketed images we get from Hollywood or the music world that fall apart when a star has a breakdown and goes into rehab.

(On an entirely different note, nihilistic_kid and I used to share an apartment. Small world!)