I talked to him two weeks ago. He was definitely not in a good state, but like James I don't want to speculate.
Even though I never met him, I considered him a friend. We talked often, and I suspected we were kindred spirits. We were close in age, both boxing fans, both sci-fi geeks, both parents with kids fairly close in age (who were both born in China), both amateur writers with a love of literature, we liked the same movies and could argue endlessly about what the best James Bond movie was or who was the most powerful Jedi/Sith.
The worst thing about this is that his life was so incomplete. He was working on a graduate degree, he was working on a novel that he had the talent to get published, he was going to come back to China-and he had a beautiful son who will grow up without a father.
Mathew, I can't believe you're gone.