Paul Giachetti, aka Karnie, RIP

[Ian Symes]

It is my sad duty to pass on the following message, which we received late last night from Richard Handley:

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I announce that one of my very best friends—basically, my brother—passed away yesterday. Paul Giachetti was the author of Total Immersion: The Comprehensive Unauthorized Red Dwarf Encyclopedia Volumes I and II. He was also my business partner at Hasslein Books.

I’ve known Paul for almost 20 years, and have been close with him since very soon after meeting him. He was one of the kindest, most generous, most considerate people I’ve ever been fortunate enough to meet, and given the reactions of the many friends who got together at my house last night to grieve him, everyone else who knew him felt the exact same way.

Paul’s death was sudden and tragic, and those of us who knew him well are all heartsick at his passing. I thought you folks at G&T might want to know, as Paul adored the Red Dwarf franchise and Red Dwarf fandom very much (as do I), and he greatly enjoyed your website.

Such sad news. I finally met Paul at Dimension Jump this year, having known him as part of the online Dwarf community for almost as long as I can remember. As is often the case at DJ, I didn’t get to speak to him as much as I’d have liked, but he seemed like such a nice, friendly guy, who had a big smile on his face every time I saw him.

He’ll be known to many for his multi-volume Encyclopedia, which is a stunning labour of love. His dedication to completeness and accuracy was nothing short of heroic, and his research has been a valuable resource for G&T’s own output over the years. He was also a regular fixture on our forum and in our comments threads, having been a member here since 2011. It’s going to be weird to go through Series XII without him being here to hoover up every last piece of information, and desperately try to slot it all in to established continuity. He was one of our own.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family. Goodbye, Paul – we’ll miss you.

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[Ben Paddon]

Oh, this hurts. Such a shame. Wonderful guy.

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

Damn. That’s harsh news. My condolences to his family and friends…

[redhead85]

Godspeed, Paul. I’m glad we finally got to meet properly. He was good fun, a great laugh, and said such kind things about our convention. It’s a tragic shame he won’t be there next year like he’d so eagerly promised he would be.

[si]

Very sad.

[(deleted)]

I only knew him from his posts on here, but I recall how infectiously giddy he got when realising the XI game was an additional resource for his next update.

See ya later, alligator.

[Tim Shaw]

I’m still shocked and saddened by this news. I got to know Paul online over the last year and was delighted to finally meet him at Dimension Jump this year. He was a lovely man and you could tell how excited he was to meet fellow Dwarfers this side of the pond. I was looking forward to meeting him again and chatting Series XII with him. I will raise a glass to him when XII is broadcast. I think it’s safe to say he made a big impact on everyone he met across Red Dwarf fandom and he will be missed by everyone.

RIP Paul, will miss you budski x

[Seb Patrick]

Really sorry to hear this – Paul was a lovely bloke who put a ridiculous amount of time into obsessively researching RD minutiae for his book. Nothing was too obscure for him to find a way to include it – a fact for which we sometimes gently took the mickey around here, but I think he took it in a good way!

It was a pleasure to meet him at the last DJ, I know he came over for it basically not knowing anyone in person in advance, but made a lot of friends that weekend (particularly among the “Red Dwarf Posse” gang) and everyone who met him found him a pleasure to be around. And I was one of the judges who voted him in third place in the costume competition for a brilliant and distinctive Chancellor Wednesday costume!

He will be sadly missed by the Red Dwarf fandom, to which he was an enthusiastic and valuable contributor. My thoughts are with his friends and family for this sudden and sad loss.

[Andy Holland]

Sad news. It was a pleasure meeting Paul at DJ this year. I was pleased to discover that the attention to detail he copiously poured into the Encyclopaedias was equally present in person; as DJ came to a close on the Sunday, we happily whiled away the hours contemplating the intricacies of various films and TV shows. His knowledge and enthusiasm was second to none. He was so very easy to chat to.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

[Smeg4Brains]

Very sad to hear this.

[Seb Patrick]

I think it’s worth noting too that in basically every photo I saw of him, and whenever I saw him in person over that DJ weekend, he always had a massive grin on his face. As someone who can be a grumpy old sod at times, that kind of positivity is always good to see.

[curtis]

I didn’t know Paul personally but a loss of anyone from our community is very sad indeed. Thoughts with his family and friends.

[NitroChrisUK]

Very very sad news indeed, i have spoke to him on various occasions on Facebook over the last couple of years regarding the encyclopedias (which take pride of place on my bedside shelf with the dvds) although never met him in person sadly, his efforts on the books were incredible as was his attention to detail on EVERYTHING Dwarf.

My thoughts and condolences to to his family.

[Jonathan Capps]

This is a massive loss. RIP Paul.

[Pete Part Three]

That’s awful news. RIP.

[Dave]

Sorry to hear this. His enthusiasm and knowledge were always clear to see. RIP.

[clem]

I never met Paul, but what a fantastic Red Dwarf fan he was, and what a great legacy his Red Dwarf books are. Clearly one of the good guys. RIP

[cwickham]

I didn’t get to speak to Paul personally at DJ, but I did see him several times (including his fantastic costume) and he seemed such a nice man. To lose someone so young is awful. RIP.

[Paul Muller]

This is very sad news indeed, thoughts are with his family.

[Hamish]

If only death really was not the handicap it used to be in the olden days.

RIP Paul.

[Bezzy]

Rip Paul, I really liked him when I first joined up years ago. His RD books are amazing, I hoped he would add a bonus book or two in the future that included the new series etc. Will be sadly missed :(

[International Debris]

Just noticed, through mentioning his tremendous post-VIII fanfic ‘Homecoming’, that I hadn’t actually posted in here. Incredibly sad news indeed, we’ve lost a real asset to the community and a lovely person indeed.
RIP.

[Jawscvmcdia]

Help with a book project

[Plastic Percy]

It’s been a year, still miss you Karnie. Let’s all raise a glass, eh?

[Hamish]

Cheers to Karnie.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

[Author]

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