COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — 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.
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One of the greatest minds on the planet died today. I can’t say that I am shocked by his passing, but I am saddened. He was the one reason I put a pen to paper, anything I have written is because of the kind words in a typed letter that he sent me. I have lost the letter, several years ago, while moving. But I will never forget the impact his encouragement had on my life.
I will miss the man, and I always think of him when I write.
Thank you Sir Clark.
I wish you are your family the best, and urge them, and your fans to celebrate your life.
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Oh how terribly sad. I still remember my first reading of the book Contact (long before the passable movie with Jodie Foster...)
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I posted some comments over in Hooks and Books.
In my day, when you started out reading science fiction, you generally reached one of three writers first, and then caught up with the other two. Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke. I stumbled upon Heinlein first, but Clarke came along not very much long afterwards.
Or maybe before...you've probably heard of the movie 2001: a Space Odyssey, which I saw part of in its first run, maybe a year or so before the books turned up. (I say "part of" because my grandmother, who took me, made us leave after about two-thirds of it---I didn't see the end until about seven or eight years later, on TV.) So maybe Clarke was my first...
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Yeah, I figured out the Carl Sagan bit sometime in that late night part of my brain where the truth comes out. Ah, well - they're indexed in my head close together (it's a C thing, apparently.) Both greats. And I'm still bummed about Arthur C. Clarke's death.
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Robert Nowall is right. The first sci-fi book I read (in grade school) was Against the Fall of Night. I haven't looked at it since, but still remember it...
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Hats off to one of the last true visionaries and a man well ahead of his time. With his death added to the list, this truly marks the end of an age of sci-fi.
Here's to hoping the next lives up to their standards.
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My first thought when I heard this was, wow he was still alive, and then quickly, dang I never got to meet him. I've only read "the nine billion names of god" But it still resonates with me.
*Lifts a glass to the giant on whose shoulders we stand.
You know, my friend (who knows far more about him than I do) spent about 2 hours telling me all about him the day before he died. He literally ended the conversation saying "It's good to know he's still alive."
quote:In my day, when you started out reading science fiction, you generally reached one of three writers first, and then caught up with the other two. Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke.
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Third, here. I discovered Andre Norton at the junior high school library, and read some of her stuff, then went to the public library and found Clarke, and read several of his omnibuses (a story collection with a novel before and after it).
His stuff totally blew my adolescent mind. I still think they should try making a movie out of THE FALL OF MOONDUST.
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Well, I noticed the other writers besides Heinlein, but it was a year or so before I bought any of them because I was busy cleaning out everything that was Heinlein.
The first Heinlein book I read (library hardcover) and bought (paperback) was Space Cadet.
The first Asimov book I read and bought (paperback) was I, Robot...earlier, but after my Heinlein infatuation, a chapter ("Robbie") turned up in a school textbook.
I can't remember the first Clarke I read or bought---it might've been 2001, the book, which was given to me in hardcover...
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Clarke was probably the fourth SF writer I read.
Heinlein took me from YA's into the adult section of our local library. Once I realised that SF was written for adults, in my usual systematic way I read all the Heinleins, then started working through Gollancz SF books in alphabetical order, probably Aldiss, Asimov, Blish, Clarke. Or something like that.
I enjoyed his books because his futuristic science seemed as though one day it would be real.
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I still remember my first reading of the book Contact (long before the passable movie with Jodie Foster...)
Ah, well - they're indexed in my head close together (it's a C thing, apparently.) Both greats. And I'm still bummed about Arthur C. Clarke's death.
