R.I.P. Sam Shepard – one of my literary idols. When I was in college, I won a writing contest, and the prize was a $50 gift certificate at the campus bookstore, which I promptly used to buy up various collections of his plays – and which I continue to read and re-read today. He will be missed, but his prolific body of work, and the enigmatic characters he created, as well as the influence he has had on so many writers, live on.