Ode to Arthur C Clarke

By Wreybies · Aug 6, 2009 · 431 · 4
  1. I am watching 2010 for the squillionth time and my awe remains undiminished. I don’t care that the turmoil between the USA and the USSR plays heavily and datedly in the story-line. It is of no importance. It is only a symbol of what does not matter against the backdrop of what does: The idea that we are just children, babies, taking our first tentative steps in this vast universe.

    His stories always have the power to erase my feeling of jadedness and refresh me with the knowledge that youth is a state of mind, not a description of my body.

    As a man of profound genius and foresight, he gave us as much science fact as he did science fiction. He conjured the very telecommunications satellites by which you are reading this blog and made it possible for me to speak to my friends in the Midwest, the U.K., India, and Australia as easily as if they were in my own living room having a cup of coffee or tea or chai with me. He made it possible to be a citizen of The World.

    He changed the world

    That he was a quiet and unassuming member of the gay community who never denied us in his work, nor made of us an axe to grind, just makes me want to give him a big cosmic hug.

    Cheers to you, Arthur. Cheers.

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  1. jonathan hernandez13
    Arthur C Clarke was gay?
    Didnt know that:rolleyes:
    Anyway, I will also mourn his passing, he has to be the greatest hard SF writer, and 2001 Space Odyssey is still my favorite novel, utterly epic story that makes me feel like more than just a man, but maybe a part of the mysterious cosmos as well.

    Modern SF is starving for men of his caliber, he will be missed.:(
    jonathan hernandez13, Aug 6, 2009
  2. Wreybies
    Yup, he was. Not a few of his books make very casual, nonchalant mention of gay characters. I think his handling of the concept was ideal, especially for the time period in which he wrote most of his works. It was simple and matter-of-fact, not all in-your-face. He treated it like a normal part of the human condition that simply... is.
    Wreybies, Aug 6, 2009
  3. Rumpole40k
    A giant amongst men.
    Rumpole40k, Aug 7, 2009
  4. GrantG
    ACC alone got me interested in reading as a kid, starting with Rendezvous with Rama. I think of him as a gateway drug to the world of serious SF. My life would have been completely different if it weren't for him.
    GrantG, Aug 8, 2009
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