Arthur C. Clarke

[stoutfellow]

The word is spreading that Arthur C. Clarke has died.

He was never among my favorite authors; I only have two of his novels in my collection - Childhood's End and (of course) 2001: A Space Odyssey. But his The City and the Stars was one of the first SF stories I ever read, about forty years ago, and it left a deep impression on me. One of the final scenes, as Alvin speculates on Vanamonde's final fate, gave me the feel of deep time unforgettably: the image of Vanamonde and the Mad Mind grappling in a universe where even the stars have gone out, in a battle which might "ring the curtain down on creation itself" (or something like that). Wooo....

Hail and farewell, Sir Arthur.

Comments

[filkferengi]

It's a sad occasion, but it was very nifty to see you commenting over on filkertom's journal.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I friended him sometime after Archon last year. I don't often comment on his LJ, mostly since he doesn't know me from Adam. (Yes, we did meet, but how many people did he meet at that one con, and how many does he go to?) (Rhetorical question.)

[filkferengi]

Actually, I was jumping up & down & gloating about you commenting over there, when my spouse expressed surprise. "Does he do filk?" he asked. "That I've introduced him to," was the smug reply.

:)

filkertom is the source of many things of interest, some of them even musical. Do you keep up with http://www.thefump.com/ ?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

If you'll look at the Bujold filk archive (http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Filk/), you might notice that my name appears there seven times....

[filkferengi]

Yeah, I know, but why let mere facts spoil a good story? ;)

Besides, I have introduced you to some good stuff. And, you've written some good stuff, albeit not lately. Maybe it's time you fixed that. [weg]