Porter Weiss, 1949-2007.

Porter Weiss in 1999.

Yesterday morning, both the Mishipeshu Herald-Leader and the New York Times reported the death of award-winning novelist and Armitage Heights native Porter Weiss, at the age of 57. According to the reports I've read, Mr .Weiss died suddenly in his home on Gilpin Avenue of a heart attack. This is a shocking and tragic loss for Armitage Heights and for the literary world.

As many of you know, Mr. Weiss was one of the most beloved members of the community. He was born in Hanley, grew up here, and made his home here for most of his life. His novels were brilliant, funny and strange, and almost all took place in the neighborhood. His first novel, 1985's The Armitage Heights Decalogue, was a landmark in contemporary fiction, a chronicle of the adventures of an unemployed writer named Wiley Porter, his mysterious relationship with a Chinese restaurant owner, and his subterranean journeys through the neighborhood and into his own psyche. His follow-ups, including City of Shadows (1987), Rainbow Village (1989), Here Comes the Night (1991), The Glass Mountain (1993), The Dreamers of Hanley (1995), An Illusion of Space (1997), and countless others chronicled his various obsessions: absent father figures, unemployment, crises of identity, and the mysteries of the human heart. There is an excellent feature on Mr .Weiss in the Mishipeshu Herald-Leader today that explores his work in great detail.

Unknown to many of you, however, is the fact that Mr. Weiss was the novelist laureate for the neighborhood, an honorary title bestowed on him by Mayor Underdahl in 2005. With Mr .Weiss's passing, we will need a new laureate. I have already begun work on calling together a task force, headed by my assistant Marisha, who is an MFA candidate in creative writing at the University of Mishipeshu. This committee will be made up of some of the best writers in the area, and will be charged with seeking a new novelist laureate for our neighborhood.

Stay tuned for details! I'll start announcing who's on the task force soon!

In the meantime, a memorial mass for Porter Weiss will be held tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., at St. Amor of Aquitaine Catholic Church in Hanley, located at 3703 South Armitage Avenue.