RIP Arthur C. Clarke

[1st Border Red Devil]

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.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

I loved 2010: Oddysey 2 as well as The Songs of Distant Earth. He will be greatly missed.

AP Article (Yahoo News)

[Morpheus]

Rest in peace.

I love his work, and I also saw him live on the screen when I attend Space Generation Forum as a delegates from my country back in 1999 in Vienna. He's a great man.

[the white drew carey]

Crap.

[eugimon]

ah, what a sad loss. He was truly a visionary.

[Necron_99]

Damn. My favorite author.

I just finished reading his last sci-fi novel, Firstborn, last week

[Mr March]

Damn. Sorry to see Clarke go.

[Hiriyu]

One of my all-time favorite writers. R.I.P.

[Roger]

Clarke also wrote the short story, "The Nine Billion Names of God," which was one of the inspirations for VOTOMS.

[CoryHolmes]

Clarke also wrote the short story, "The Nine Billion Names of God," which was one of the inspirations for VOTOMS.

Nine Billion, along with The Sentinel, are two of the greatest short sci-fi stories of all time. Rendevous with Rama is still my favourite hard sci-fi novel. This is terrible news.

[Alex]

He also first proposed the idea of the geostationary communication satellite for the purpose of telecommunication back when he was serving in WW2.

Mari Iijima met him once also. I wonder if he knew she was involved in a show called Macross

Edited March 19, 2008 by Alex

[kkx]

His novel is what started me reading in English when I was in high school. I think the first book of his that I read is "The hammer of God". That was good.

Love his short stories as well as full lenght one.

His visionary and dramatic effect is a combination that is hard to replace. A very good story teller as well as a visionary science fiction writer.

Very sad to head that he is gone. Clarke and Asimov are my best loved science fiction authors.

[CoryHolmes]

A very good story teller as well as a visionary science fiction writer.

That's what makes his stuff so enjoyable to me, the accessability. Other "hard sci fi" novels read like technical journals and ph.D-level papers. Clarke always made his stories managable for the layperson while not compromising on the quality of the story or the science behind them.

[F-ZeroOne]

My favourite Clarke story was "Hide and Seek", which was perhaps very typical of his short work - a tale of a single spy outwitting the heavily armed space cruiser sent to capture him, it combined a science lesson, innovative vision (television guided missiles and electromagnetic cannons), humour (its one man running around a ball - how hard can this be?!) with a slight twist at the end.

As mentioned, there are a couple of anime connections - leaving asides appearances of satellites, space elevators and, of course, 2001 references - Clarkes White Hart Inn appeared in an episode of Kimagure Orange Road, and he once met Mari Iijima, the singing Saviour of Humanity. Presumably invading UFOs trembled in terror at this match-up. He also had at least encountered Gundam and was impressed by the non-giant robot technical aspects of it.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Edit: its been pointed out to me that the original quote I used was something of a major spoiler, so I've fallen back on the line everyone else will be using... My apologies if I spoilt anything for anyone, it was truly unintentional.

Edited March 19, 2008 by F-ZeroOne

[mikeszekely]

It is indeed sad to lose a man with such vision as Clarke. He seems to have lived a very full life.

[bsu legato]

Its times like this that I reject the concept of "karma" in the universe. We lose Arthur C Clarke, and yet somewhere out there, lurking in the shadows, is Kevin J Anderson, churning out yet another bland, derivative franchise novel.

[Mr March]

Its times like this that I reject the concept of "karma" in the universe. We lose Arthur C Clarke, and yet somewhere out there, lurking in the shadows, is Kevin J Anderson, churning out yet another bland, derivative franchise novel.

Allow me to make your day (and mine) worse:

http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=25487

Edited March 19, 2008 by Mr March

[Kelsain]

My jaw dropped when I saw this as the most recent post!

So sad!

I might just dust off Rama after my finals (or pick up another I haven't read), to comemorate this wonderful author's life in my own little way.

Edited March 20, 2008 by Kelsain

[CoryHolmes]

My jaw dropped when I saw this as the most recent post!

So sad!

I might just dust off Rama after my finals (or pick up another I haven't read), to comemorate this wonderful author's life in my own little way.

Rama I = winwinwin

Rama II, III, IV... don't ask, man. Just don't ask...

[electric indigo]

Allow me to make your day (and mine) worse:

http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=25487

and while not anime/sf-related, Great Cinema takes another blow with the sudden death of Anthony Minghella.

[deadghost]

Macross Plus would never exist with out him. Evil black robot box looking and acting like HAL 2000, Gulds death takeing after Bowmans entrance to higher status in the universe. And many more small things that most fans prob wont notice. But most importantly it was about being a pioneer.

Edited March 21, 2008 by deadghost