Arthur C. Clarke Dead at 90

[Pangloss]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfE8qUikNEG6MVWqYku2k8BD_RcgD8VG3QS80

 

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

 

The last of the grand masters has passed.

[ecoli]

damn... I knew today felt weird. His passing must have sent a disturbance through the force.

[Mr Skeptic]

Too bad. I'm reading Rama III by him right now.

[iNow]

Wow.

 

 

 

I'm glad he will still live on through his writing.

 

Wow.

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Pangloss. I may have missed it otherwise.

[Pangloss]

Too bad. I'm reading Rama III by him right now.

 

Is it any good? The first one is one of my all-time favorites, but some of his later sequels, especially the ones "co-written" (read "ghost-written") by Gentry Lee were kinda lame. Too much human drama, not enough hard science.

[antimatter]

 

I got the flu that day

[gcol]

Someone remind me when one his first came out, Childhoods End. Bought it in paperback when it was first published. Seems like a lifetime ago. More fantasy than science though, but with some fine imaginative descriptions of extraterestrial planetary topography and scenary.

 

Oh, damn, perhaps it was C.S. Lewis..... memory fading.

[antimatter]

2001 was excellent, I think I must've read that book at least three times.

I never read Childhood's End though, I did see it in my library.

 

The last of the grand masters has passed.

 

What about Ray Bradbury?

[ecoli]

 

What about Ray Bradbury?

who happens to be coming to I-con in about two weeks... a sci-fi convention hosted by my university. Definitely getting an autograph.

[antimatter]

who happens to be coming to I-con in about two weeks... a sci-fi convention hosted by my university. Definitely getting an autograph.

 

lucky...

[Pangloss]

There are a number of authors from the SFWA Grand Master list that are still around, and many of the old guard of first- or second-generation SF authors, but the old convention was that there were three grand masters in the first generation of SF authors -- Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov -- because each of those three had such a profound influence on the genre. The list was never considered thorough and it's always been recognized that it wasn't really fair, and the authors themselves often called it silly and pointless. I mainly mentioned it just because it's such a familiar cliche with people in my generation.

 

I can't for the life of me remember where this unofficial bestowment originated from. John W. Campbell may be the culprit here -- I believe he published the first (or some of the first) stories of all three authors (in Astounding).

[antimatter]

I was never a huge fan of Heinlein, but Asimov is brilliant.

The End of Eternity was one of my favorites.

[Mr Skeptic]

Is it any good? The first one is one of my all-time favorites, but some of his later sequels, especially the ones "co-written" (read "ghost-written") by Gentry Lee were kinda lame. Too much human drama, not enough hard science.

 

Well, Rama II had a psychopathic crew member, half the crew dead by the end of the series, shamans, magical drinks, prophesies, and if it had some actual science I didn't notice it. I don't mind human drama, but I could do without the magic part, which was not even part of the plot. Haven't finished the third one, but so far it doesn't have magic, but is again full of human drama. Also, I either missed a big chunk of the series (the first meeting with the Node), or the plot has been slice'n diced.