I read "Bear and His Daughter" in 1998, shortly after it was published.  It was the very first book I purchased the Saturday immediately after finishing graduate school, and one of the very first books I read for the pleasure after the "torturous" experience of writing a thesis.  Later I went on to read everything by Stone, among which "A Flag for Sunrise" is one of my great favorites.  I never failed to go to the "S" at the bookstore to see if I could find something by this great writer.  Rest easy, brother.