This morning I was greeted with some very sad news when I sat down at the PC for my morning round of news checking.Sir Arthur C. Clarke had died in Sri Lanka, aged 90 at roughly 1:30 AM this morning due to breathing difficulties related to the post-polio problems he had been suffering from for many years.
Even though the man was 90, this is still a tradegy. Few men have had the influence that he has had over modern science and science fiction.
In the 1940's he stunned the then modern science community by creating the idea of communication satellites and prophesying that man would be on the moon by the end of the twentieth century.
But Clarke will be most fondly remembered for his astonishing array of speculative fiction novels and short stories. His tales never failed to be plausible, well thought out and superbly written. Even his earlier works such as Childhoods End still stand up today and I think, will long after I am dead.
Any self respective Sci-Fi or Fantasy fan has read some of his work, often his most famous works such as the Odyssey quintet. It is without a doubt that 2001: A Space Odyssey though it's title now dated remains a great work and it's adaptation by Stanley Kubrick (in close collaboration with Clarke) is still one of the most mind expanding and beautiful pieces of Science Fiction cinematography ever captured on film.
For me it was Rendezvous With Rama and there subsequent sequel's written with Gentry Lee that made me a fan of his work and hungry for anything else I could find. His imagination always stunning and his prose written in a way that just carries you across time and space effortlessly and with such joy.
Even in his eighties the man was still producing work this time with Stephen Baxter, one of my favourite collaborations of his, there styles working so well together. This included perhaps my favourite of all his stand alone books, The Light of Other Days.
So a prolific writer and more importantly a true and wonderful thinker, this kind, gentle and amazing man will long be remembered, perhaps never forgotten and his work will live on as a testament to his greatness. Rest in peace Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
1 comment:
Sorry I've been away a while doing loads of shit but back to make a bombardment of posts again.
Damn, I thought Arthur C Clarke was already dead, it's nice that he wasn't but it's sad to hear he has now passed away, i followed this story at the time and now I've done my mourning but its sad as hell to hear SUCH a ledgend has died (and i even refere to him in an earlier comment i made about zombies ages ago)
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