Most times, when a celebrity or other famous person dies, it doesn’t really affect me. I mean, the passing of another human is sad, certainly. But it doesn’t touch me. Even Gary Gygax, who passed recently, didn’t really affect me. I mean, sure – I played D&D, but there was no real connection to him through the material for me. The last time I actually FELT something when someone famous died was in 2001, when Douglas Adams died.
And now I’m feeling it again, after finding out that Arthur C. Clarke passed away yesterday. Now, sure – the guy was NINETY, so it’s no real surprise, but 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of my all-time favorite books, not to mention movies. I remember when “3001” was released, I was around 16, and I ran out and got the hardcover and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Clarke was more than just an author – he was a visionary. The guy basically laid down some of the foundations for geosynchronous satellites. When I read 3001, I marveled at his section at the back where he detailed his predictions for the technology he included in his book. Hell – in my senior-year English class in high school, I wrote an essay in which I compared Arthur C. Clarke to Aldous Huxley, basically stating that Huxley was a complete hack and didn’t hold a candle to Clarke. (I still maintain that “Brave New World” was complete and utter dreck, and that high schools should be ashamed of themselves for pushing it on students.)
Suffice it to say, I’m saddened by the news of his death. Not surprised – he was old, after all. But one of the greatest writers of our generation is gone. That’s a big, big thing.
I’m gonna have to go on a marathon reading of all the Odyssey books now. Dammit.
