Archive for March 18, 2008

Childhood’s End

March 18, 2008 @ 8:09 pm · Filed under Books, Sci-Fi

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke died yesterday in Sri Lanka, at the age of 90.

I grew up reading a lot of his works — 2001: A Space Odyssey and the sequels, the Rama series, his many, many short-stories, and of course, my favorite, Childhood’s End.

In a way, he was one of the two authors (along with Asimov) who bridged the gap between my youthful love for cheesy science fiction to my interest in what later became serious, literary science fiction. I had always told myself that some day — some day — I will go meet him in person in Sri Lanka. Years have past, and although I’d had the opportunity to do so on several occasions, I never got around to doing it.

To quote Mr. Clarke, “We stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind us is a past to which we can never return.”

I hope wherever he’s gone, it’s full of stars.

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