Sci-Fi Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies

[IDemo]

Source: Sky News

The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote more than 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90, according to an aide.

He had suffered from breathing problems, said the aide, Rohan De Silva.

More to follow...

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1309902,00.html

[niyad]

1. RIP, arthur. so very sorry to hear that

[Teaser]

2. Scan his brain!!!

I want his consciousness preserved forever on DVD!!!

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Brain scans tend to work better

when the brain is still living.

Arthur's remarkable consciousness may be around somewhere, but I doubt it's inhabiting his brain.

[Teaser]

25. No, I mean serial sectioning

slice it in a microtome and map his neurons to the highest fidelity possible.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Safe passage to you, Arthur...

I mourn his death...

His book "Reach for Tomorrow" has the scariest short story I ever read: "A Walk in the Dark."

He was an amazing and brilliant writer...

[arundhatiroyfan]

4. R.I.P.

nt

[Terran]

5. He's taking the space elevator

express, to heaven. Thanks for all the pleasure you brought me with your words Arthur.

/salute with respect

[Delphinus]

49. Now

THAT'S a wonderful thing to envision!

I join you in your salute - Rest in Peace, dear Arthur. Enjoy the galaxies you'll visit!

[sarge43]

59. Maybe he's with Carl Sagan in that spaceship of the imagination. n/t

[whopis01]

6. He is my favorite author.

It is hard not to feel sad when someone like that dies, even when they had such a long and full life and left us with so much.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Was he still living in Sri Lanka?

I believe that means he would have died just after midnight tomorrow night. Somehow, that seems very appropriate, and I will believe it whether or not it is true.

Rest in peace, sir.

[HeresyLives]

15. Listed as 19 March 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

[Nevernose]

42. Yes, he was in the capital.

I forget the name -- I think it starts w/ an "M."

Damned shame. I'll always think of him as a humanitarian first.

[jimlup]

8. Darn! I was hoping he would get his wish to actually travel in space.

I guess it is up to us to follow through with that dream of his!

[Taverner]

16. Yes it is

All of this bullshit down here - fuck it

Our only real salvation is to get off this planet and start exploring

Everything else is crap

[plantwomyn]

Please!

Do not give up on Mother Earth!

[Taverner]

50. Nothing wrong with Mother Earth, but in a few million years this place won't be habitable

Unless you're an invertabrate

[uppityperson]

9. RIP with thanks for all you wrote for us.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. He was the father of the modern telecommunications age.

The orbiting telecommunications satellite was his concept. The man was one of the greats in science fact as well as fiction.

Rest In Peace, Sir.

[LiveLiberally]

11. RIP...

I'll never forget the first time I read his novel Childhood's End. It opened a whole new world of literature to me.

[C_U_L8R]

12. My god, It's full of stars

wishing you a wondrous journey Arthur

[Jackpine Radical]

20. Starry, starry night...

The world was never meant for one as beautiful as you, Arthur.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. The Sands of Mars, which I read when I was 11 or so, was the

first 'grown up' SF I ever read. Prior to that I read Tom Swift, and Doc Savage, and ER Burroughs pulp, but Clark opened an whole new universe to me -- SF based on real science.

[krispos42]

66. I read that book a bunch of times as well!

God, I have not thought about that book in years!

But I read it a bunch of times. I had an old paperback copy of it!


I think it's at my parent's house in the attic. I hope to pass it, and my others, down to my son one day.

[ronnie624]

83. The most memorable to me

was Against the Fall of Night, later re-written as The City and the Stars.
A beautiful and haunting story.

I love his prose.

[Taverner]

14. RIP Arthur

[Greyskye]

17. sad day

I grew up reading Arthur C. Clarke. He was very much part of my formative years, and a big part in fostering my love of science and space.

RIP Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Wow. R.I.P.

As I look at my Arthur C. Clarke books on my bookcase.... One of the masters.

[eppur_se_muova]

21. SF author, and INVENTOR OF THE GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE ...

that one little article in "Wireless World" may have had more impact than all the SF ever written (and I'm a big SF fan)!

http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/

[Speciesamused]

22. Hate to be party pooper but...Do you know why he lived in

Sri Lanka for decades? Because he was fond of young girls....
Not my idea of a hero. :puke:

[Barrett808]

23. False: The Sunday Mirror retracted this accusation

Knighthood and false accusation

In early 1998, Clarke was to be made a knight, with Prince Charles visiting Sri Lanka in order to make the investiture. Just before the ceremony, a British tabloid, The Sunday Mirror, claimed in a sensationalist story that Clarke was an avowed paedophile, giving supposed quotations from Clarke about the harmlessness of his predilection for boys. Clarke released a statement saying that "the accusations are such nonsense that I have found it difficult to treat them with the contempt that they deserve." He also said, "I categorically state that The Sunday Mirror's article is grossly defamatory and contains statements which in themselves and by innuendo are quite false, grossly inaccurate and extremely harmful." He later asked that the investiture of his knighthood be delayed "in order to avoid embarrassment to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales during his visit to Sri Lanka." In answer to the newspaper's allegations, Clarke was investigated by Sri Lankan authorities, who eventually dismissed the accusations. The Sunday Mirror later printed a retraction and Clarke was made a Knight Bachelor on May 26, 2000, in a ceremony in Colombo.<12><13><14><15> A formal investigation undertaken by Sri Lankan police cleared Clarke in April 1998.<16>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C_Clarke#Knighthood_and_false_accusation

[brucefan]

24. Got a link sparky?

[whopis01]

28. Take your false accusations somewhere else.

You should be more careful when tossing around such accusations so lightly.

[pitohui]

29. i didn't hear it was girls he surrounded himself with (as long as we're gossiping)

underage yes, girls not so much?

not my hero either esp. after he put his name on work written by the likes of gentry lee and became a "franchise" but he did have some meaningful early work

even picasso was a monster, we can't judge the work by the man

i don't think anyone seriously believes the accusations were false, we all understand that british libel/slander law is different (freedom of press/speech not a given there) but clarke was not going to test british tolerance and protection so far as to ever return and live in england again --

[Flaxbee]

58. No. He was a family friend

and he was an exceptionally intelligent, honorable, and kind man. Now FUCK OFF, as you know nothing of which you speak. Take your ignorance and hateful gossipmongering elsewhere, all of you on this thread who want to sit here and titter over baseless rumors. You can go right to hell.

[Speciesamused]

77. Why would the Queen not Knight him?

[sarge43]

78. She did grant him a knighthood, troll.

He requested the ceremony be delayed until the lies about his alleged pedophilia were put to rest. The Prince of Wales conducted the ceremony in Sri Lanka two years after the actual grant.

Give it up and go the fuck away.

[Posteritatis]

79. The queen hasn't knighted me either; that doesn't mean much. (nt)

[Codeine]

81. You are so wrong.

The false allegations came on the eve of his scheduled Knighthood. He asked that it be postponed while the matter was dealt with, then he was knighted later, after the tabloid that put forth the claims retracted them.

[sarge43]

36. Take your homophobia somewhere else. n/t

[Beetwasher]

51. You're a lying scumbag and a troll

FOAD

[terrya]

70. Completely, utterly, absolutely, unequivocally false.

Libelously, slanderously, untrue. Wrong on every single fucking level.

Are you trying to get the point I'm trying to drive home...you sack of shit troll?

[LanternWaste]

71. Regardless of whether your accusations are true or not...

Regardless of whether your accusations are true or not, I think that most people have the maturity and the character to separate the art from the artist, and take each at their own value.

[Cronopio]

26. Not unexpected considering his illness, but very sad to hear this.

He was one of my three favorite authors in my teenage years - a great writer and a great man.

"A Walk in the Dark" from Reach for Tomorrow - still one of my favorite short stories.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. I LOVED that story too!

One of the scariest I ever read...

:hi:

[Cronopio]

57. "... he heard the rattling of the giant claws in the darkness in front of him."

Brrrr ... what an ending. The producers of the movie Pitch Black should have paid mucho royalties to Arthur for heavily borrowing from the premise of that great story.

:hi:

[Phoonzang]

27. I had a feeling he wouldn't live much longer

after seeing that video he made for his 90th birthday. Too bad he never got to see us get anywhere near where he'd envisioned us being. He made the mistake of assuming the fickle public and national governments had the same level of vision that he did.

Great...now I've depressed myself again.

[Nevernose]

46. Oddly, I goggled him last week to find out of he was still alive

Morbid coincidence. I didn't see the video, though.

My optimism says that we DO, in fact, have the same level of vision he did -- we just have our eyes closed too much of the time.

[Phoonzang]

53. Heh...perhaps you're right.

Lets just hope we open our eyes before we hit the figurative wall eh?

[Jack Rabbit]

30. Musical Interlude

Please click here.

[Thor_MN]

31. RIP, ACC. Wish there was more "hard" sci-fi these days.

I grew up on the sci-fi that was based on science. Fantasy is OK, but the science part of sci-fi has always been my favorite. I'd rather have my escapism based on potential realities than unrealistic alternatives.

[Nevernose]

44. What hard SF there is seems to be "military"

Which isn't always bad -- I love space battles as much as the next dude -- but it's really hard to top 2001 (or fifty others) for in-depth, exciting, non-violent "speculative fiction."

[Posteritatis]

80. (Insert Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds recommendations here). (nt)

[daleo]

62. If you haven't read them yet, read Robinson's Mars trilogy

Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars. It satisfies the desire for science grounded science fiction.

[sarge43]

33. Rest in peace, Sir Arthur and thank you for your inspired vision.

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light.

I have loved the stars too fondly to fearful of the night.

The Old Astronomer to his Pupil, Sarah Williams.

[Fenris]

34. He was a hero to me as a kid.

I was obsessed with 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World.' I don't think I've ever seen any scientist approach pseudo-archaeology, parapsychology, and cryptozoology with such an open and generally fascinated demeanor. You never got a sense from him that he dismissed anything as being impossible.

RIP. :(

[RaleighNCDUer]

73. Well, he did say:

If a respected scientists tells you something is possible, he's probably right. If a respected scientist tells you something is impossible, he probably wrong.

[jmondine]

35. All These Worlds...

... are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there.

[Nevernose]

48. Last night's rerun of Futurama had them going to Jupiter

In the background was an orbiting Monolith -- with a crude, handwritten "out of order" sign hanging from it.

[baldguy]

37. He was one of the good guys.

[Robeson]

38. Damn.

[go west young man]

39. Godspeed on your journey Arthur.

[1620rock]

40. I developed my life-long love of reading in grade school when

I picked up an Arthur C. Clarke novel.

[lovuian]

41. Loved his works he was fantastic

:patriot:

[JerseygirlCT]

43. Oh no!!

Another great one gone. At least he left such a huge body of work for us.

[mikelgb]

45. RIP

[calimary]

47. He made the jump to lightspeed.

Rest in peace, Mr. Clarke.

Damn. Sorry to hear this. "2001: A Space Odyssey" is one of my alltime favorite movies.

[YankeyMCC]

52. I'm happy

that I got to experience his work, he improved the world by his work and now we are all a little bit poorer tonight for his absence but overall he left the world a better place and for that we can be happy even though we'll miss his active contribution in the future.

[davidinalameda]

54. I thought he was already dead

I know that some major sci-fi writer of his caliber died like 10 years ago

I thought it was Clarke

me bad

[sarge43]

61. You may be thinking of Isaac Asimov, died in 1992

Another one of the giants.

[davidinalameda]

63. I always get those two confused

I'm more of a fantasy fan than sci-fi

thanks!

:hi:

[sarge43]

74. You're welcome, dwickham

Give Clarke a try. Being a fantasy fan, you might enjoy an oldie, but goldie The City and the Stars. Paraphrasing one of his insights, science/technology sufficiently advanced would appear magical. Also, IMHO the writing often approaches epic prose poetry.

[stlsaxman]

55. Moonwatcher weeps...

"he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something."

[Rick Myers]

56. Just finished my first crying jag of the evening!!!

Godspeed, Sir Arthur, you are a hero to millions, and the Poet Laureate of the Space Age!!!

[stlsaxman]

60. 2001 complete on youtube pts 1 thru 15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmx0HpC4oUA&feature=related

[HuffleClaw]

64. a legend passes

something astronomical should be named for him.

[semillama]

72. Something is - the Clarke Orbit

That's the name for a geosynchronous orbit. Also, the part of space where near-geosynchronous orbit can be achieved is called the Clarke Belt.

[Mrs. Overall]

65. How sad.....loved him.

[Norrin Radd]

67. Peace to you, Mr. Clarke...

[tom_paine]

68. Lucky bastard. He won't have to live to see The Age of Totalitarianism.

But it's coming. It's already been born, Amerika, Russia, and China are already one nation with a single form of government, no matter what bullshit economic rationales they use.

I can think of no more horrific fate than being alive in 2100.

Envy the old. Pity the young. It's 1936 again, only this time the environment is collapsing, too.

[jus_the_facts]

69. RIP Arthur....one of my all time favorite writers....

....I highly recommend Rendezvous With Rama and it's sequels. :loveya:

[paulk]

75. RIP

I just started a reread of "Childhoods End" two days ago.

[anamandujano]

76. Shameless name-dropper checking in--I spoke to him on the phone

in the early 70s.

I worked at Ballantine Books, happened to be walking by Judy Lynn Del Rey's office when the phone was ringing, picked it up to take a message and voila, there he was.

He wasn't even calling about anything special, just to chat.


Rip

[David Zephyr]

82. Arthur C. Clarke inspired me as a teenager and as an adult.

His books were thrilling, inspired and some nearly prophetic.

His speculations about Europa, Jupiter's moon, have turned out to be correct.

With great respect for this brilliant human.