RIP Sir Arthur C. Clarke

[Sand Rat]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/03/18/obit.clarke/index.html

 

[BarstoolProphet]

I\'ve lit a candle.
2001 is in the machine.

 

[matty1001]

Captain Birdseye died as well...

 

[lizcam]

 

[Dragonsreach]

One of the \"Golden Age\" British writers of Sceince Fiction.
His writings were among my initial readings of SF way back in my childhood and for that I will be indebted forever.

 

[squidders]

A heavy casualty but a ripe old age.

His passing is more of a passing of an era in a natural way, I am sadened that a great man is dead but I am glad his legacy will continue.

RIP

 

[airhead]

I see the ranks of the greats thinning. Azimov & Clark are gone, yet I see no new greats coming to fill their shoes.

 

[supervike]

Sir Clarke was much more than a writer though...don\'t forget he also was instrumental in the development of the communications satelite.

He also hosted a very cool TV show called \"Mysterious Worlds\".

He was a pretty amazing character!

 

[Theomar Pius]

He will surely be missed. Whenever the topic of best movie villian comes up, I ofetn cite hal9000. Has there ever been a creepier movie murderer?

 

[freakinacage]

i never realised he was educated in a school down the road from me. cool

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by airhead
I see the ranks of the greats thinning. Azimov & Clark are gone, yet I see no new greats coming to fill their shoes.

Er, have you never heard of Iain M. Banks??

It\'s perhaps a little unrealistic to expect the same kind of greatness today; those who shone in the era of the development of modern science are of course going to seem a little above those who shone in the generation(s) after. Asimov in particular, because he was so prolific (quality is assumed), was maybe the greatest SF writer ever, but if he were born in 1970 or 1980 would he have been able to do work that was as highly regarded?

So, of those from later generations I\'d suggest the following as contenders for greatness:
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
David Brin
Orson Scott Card
Greg Bear
Neal Stephenson
Greg Egan
Bob Shaw
Alan Dean Foster
C. J. Cherryh
Willam Gibson
Philip Jose Farmer

I\'m out of touch with the genre now; I\'m sure there are some new stars in the firmament now that I haven\'t even heard of, much less read yet.

Einion

 

[DaN]

My God, it\'s full of stars.

RIP indeed. Hopefully he\'s now at once with the cosmos and starbaby

 

[spazzy]

He has inspired a lot of minds, young and old, to comprehend a world bigger than their own neighborhoods. He has lead a full and rich life, and has made a positive mark on the world during his time here. That is a true sign of success.

God bless

 

[AinuLainour]

Brilliant man, revolutionary work, he\'ll be sorely missed. RIP

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by airhead
I see the ranks of the greats thinning. Azimov & Clark are gone, yet I see no new greats coming to fill their shoes.

Don\'t get all grumpy-old-man. A lot of the \"greats\" were considered little more than genre-writing hacks when they were publishing their seminal works for pennies a word. Clarke, perhaps less so but he had a veneer of respectability due to his \"real science\" writing. Plus, it\'s now a lot harder to come up with original ideas that some previous writer hasn\'t already explored... and yet contemporary writers still manage to do it.

 

[Sand Rat]

Hate to say it but I kinda prefer dead authors - lets me catch up on their body of work.

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by Einion

David Brin
This. His \"uplift trilogy\" is really well-written and imaginative reading.
Neal Stephenson
Hell yes. Can\'t end a book well to save his life, but tremendously funny and thought-provoking.
C. J. Cherryh
My online gaming name for a while was \"Heavy Time\". Good exploration of very weird alien societies.
Willam Gibson
HELL yes. He may not have fathered cyberpunk, but he sure became its daddy.