Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur C. Clarke is gone, just after his 90th birthday.
I love Clarke’s work, especially 2010. 2001: A Space Odyssey, came out the year I was born. His earlier work was his best, though, and I’d like to forget all the crap he co-wrote with that pretender Gentry Lee later on. But no amount of co-written sub-par SF can make a dent in the enormous impact this gay Sci-fi author has had on the world and our society. He embodies all the reasons we must explore space, and though he’s gone now, we still need, now more than ever, to get off our asses and do it. NASA has proved that it’s not going anywhere, but there’s still hope, as it seems that a few private companies may still have the guts and the agility needed for true space exploration.
RIP, Arthur. All these worlds are yours…
I read a few of Clarke’s books years ago. He didn’t have as much impact on me as Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg or Gene Wolfe. But there’s no doubting how prescient he was. I haven’t read much SF in the last 15 years – but Kim Stanley Robinson’s MARS books impressed me immensely.
Comment by Steven Crook — March 30, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein and Niven were all favorites of mine when I was growing up as well as today. I agree that Robinson’s Mars trilogy is brilliant. You should also check out his “Antarctica” – it’s not bad either.
Comment by Poagao — March 30, 2008 @ 8:30 pm