David Eddings, Darwin Idiot

Renowned fantasy novelist David Eddings just narrowly missed qualifying for the Darwin Awards late last week:

Fantasy writer David Eddings, 75, said he was using water to flush out the gas tank of his broken-down Excalibur sports car, when some fluid leaked. In a lapse of judgment he readily admitted, Eddings lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable. The answer came in an orange torrent.

The fire raged through the garage and a quarter of the way into the office that occupies the lot next door to his home. His 95-year-old mother-in-law inside the home, came outside to find the juniper trees lining the driveway had gone up in flames, too.

You've just got to wonder what is going through a man's mind when he decides to "test" whether or not some spilled gasoline is flammable. You've also got to wonder what the bar to entry is to be a popular fantasy novelist, since intelligence clearly isn't required.

Novelist accidentally burns down office [Nevada Appeal]