RIP or be reborn as a starchild. Whatever takes yer fancy.
― ledge, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:16 (sixteen years ago) link
i dunno. the more i found out about these guys the less i liked them.
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:17 (sixteen years ago) link
nice of the BBC to bring up the noncing allegations
― DG, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Dude invented the idea of geostationary satellites. Also space elevators but still waiting on those.
― ledge, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:50 (sixteen years ago) link
This is painful news. :(
― dowd, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:58 (sixteen years ago) link
:(
Is Ray Bradbury the only one of the Golden Age guys left?
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:02 (sixteen years ago) link
He came to fame in 1968 when a short story called The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick.
Oh, is that when he became famous. I'm really starting to fucking hate the BBC's alleged reporting.
― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Fred Pohl is still alive. Philip Jose Farmer is too, but he came a few years later.
― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:04 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm really starting to fucking hate the BBC's alleged reporting making the work experience kid copy and paste the obit off Wikipedia.
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:04 (sixteen years ago) link
Pohl is considered Golden Age...?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think he beat Asimov to publication. (1st pro sale was an SF poem in '37.)
Wiki: From 1939 to 1943, he was the editor of two pulp magazines - Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories.
― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:15 (sixteen years ago) link
wow I had no idea he'd been around so long. I love his space merchants stuff.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:22 (sixteen years ago) link
superbummer RIP
-- Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 22:07 (1 hour ago) Link
Wow that's harsh even for you :(
― DJ Mencap, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 23:28 (sixteen years ago) link
he wrote some awesome stories. "the 9 million names of god" or whatever it's called was my favorite. seemed like a nice, relatively humble guy (in a field crammed with egomaniacs), too. RIP.
― J.D., Wednesday, 19 March 2008 00:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Dees umbrella
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 00:44 (sixteen years ago) link
RIP -- a full life lived, though. My ramblings.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:13 (sixteen years ago) link
are we ever going to take up these golden age sci fi dudes on their uncritical embrace of BIG SCIENCE and the aerospace industry?
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link
The future!
I'd say there was room for a good critique on that front, sure.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:16 (sixteen years ago) link
That would be an interesting thread.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah shame, I loved his books as a teenager. I guess his characterisation and all that literary stuff was pretty dreadful, but that's not really what you need from him is it? Apparently he wasn't too keen on what Kubrick did with 2001.
― Matt #2, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Um, when exactly did Dangerous Visions come out? (xpost)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I totally understand and agree with you, but I still think Clarke & co's contributions to science fiction are certainly worth a RIP.
― latebloomer, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 01:38 (sixteen years ago) link
is it uncritical?
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link
also, are we stacking the deck by critiquing them from our POV?
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:05 (sixteen years ago) link
yes and yes
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:05 (sixteen years ago) link
well back then we were rewriting the end of icarus, in the real world.
it's a bit of a cheap shot, and "uncritical embrace of big science" strikes me as hilariously off the mark considering the creation of ACC's that most people are likely to remember right off the top of their head is a malfunctioning killer computer.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Apparently he wasn't too keen on what Kubrick did with 2001.
Where'd you hear that? He actually worked closely with Kubrick on the screenplay and throughout production. When I told my daughter a little while ago that he'd died, she dug out a paperback she picked up recently in a 20-for-$5 sale, The Lost Worlds of 2001. It reprints "The Sentinel" and some chapters from the novel, interwoven with some bits of memoir from Clarke about how it all went down. He was frustrated by Kubrick's perfectionism, but not unhappy with the movie, according to what I'm reading here.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:22 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah i've never read him saying anything bad about the movie
― latebloomer, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah yes I was wrong. Seems David Fincher is lined up to direct Rendezvous With Rama (if it happens). I'm not holding out much hope for it being any good.
― Matt #2, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:30 (sixteen years ago) link
rip
― deej, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:31 (sixteen years ago) link
between this and the D&D dude jr. high nerdery's having a rough year
i think fincher would be great for that, personally
xx-post
― latebloomer, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Jerome Agee's "The Making of Kubrick's 2001" indicated more-or-less the same. Both SK & ACC thought the screenplay should have been credited to "Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke" with the novel credited in reverse.
― Sparkle Motion, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:32 (sixteen years ago) link
5xpost
Fincher on Rama would be THEE BOMBE.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:34 (sixteen years ago) link
-- El Tomboto
that's sort of the point, right?
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:51 (sixteen years ago) link
i mean, did the popularity of sci fi & popular science in the 20th century lead to any gains w/r/t The Public Understanding Of Science In America or did it do the opposite?
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Clarke ain't Roddenberry.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:56 (sixteen years ago) link
clarke is WORSE
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 02:59 (sixteen years ago) link
i'd argue that the hard science fiction dudes have been much much WORSE for TPUOSIA than almost anything else except maybe the space race dudes and America's Nobel Laureates
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:00 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't get this at all. A lot of what I know about basic science came from Niven, Pohl, Hal Clement (ESPECIALLY Hal Clement), Clarke, a little from Asimov. They contributed heavily to TPUOSIA, even if not everyone who read their stuff became an engineer or scientist.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:07 (sixteen years ago) link
ok sorry, i guess i'm just ranting based on my work. public understanding of science isn't just a matter of who knows what facts about basic science, but about public ideas about what constitutes science, how science works, who is a scientist, what a scientist does, etc
in america we have some curiously prevalent ideas
1) math & science are more difficult than other subjects (humanities, business, etc)
2) science is a matter of individual inspiration, genius, what have you
3) appreciation of science is based on wide-eyed *wonder* about the natural world, and people who don't get that *wonder* are dullards
3.5) scientific activity is the natural outgrowth of this wonderment, ie, we launched space rockets because of natural human curiosity, not because of any sort of social or political concerns. and if you're not excited by the possibilities of rocketry and satellites, it's not because of social/political difference but because you're a dullard. ask carl sagan!!
4) there's an intellectual hierarchy in science, with rocket science & quantum mechanics at the top, and, i dunno, nurses and veterinarians towards the bottom.
i could go on for days about this
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:15 (sixteen years ago) link
5) einstein was a better scientist, than, say, rachel carson
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:16 (sixteen years ago) link
cue white men with computer hobbies - "but we ARE BETTER SCIENTISTS than FARMERS!"
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:19 (sixteen years ago) link
r.i.p.
I did a tiny bit to help out with a carbon nanotube research project during my last year at school.
― kingfish, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:22 (sixteen years ago) link
There's a lot to chew on there, vahid...
I think that great SF supports the first part of that (and I agree with it), but not the second half. I won't argue about that heirarchy in science, but I never encountered SF promulgating it.
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Mr. To Baja I don't think I believe that a lot of those curiously prevalent ideas are really the fault of some old white dudes with typewriters 50 years ago. Or even the guys with bad hair in the short-sleeved shirts and ties who were actually turning the airmen into spacemen on the teevee.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:34 (sixteen years ago) link
oh damn i said promulgating xpost
― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:34 (sixteen years ago) link
I think if you start at the last word in that sentence you'd probably be closer to the mark, in fact. But then again I am a buzz-cut reactionary who spies on his fellow citizens at the behest of the government.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Ya bastid!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Wow that's harsh even for you :( -- DJ Mencap
wtf I'm experessing genuine regret at his passing here!
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 19:08 (sixteen years ago) link
wait wait - how was einstein not a better scientist than rachel carson?
― J.D., Wednesday, 19 March 2008 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link
I wrote this: http://www.quartzcity.net/2008/03/20/the-enigma-of-arthur-c-clarke/
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 21 March 2008 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Isn't this...true? I mean I guess it's partly a function of how/at what difficulty level they're taught but in my experience science/math classes are harder. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
― 31g, Friday, 21 March 2008 03:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Great stuff there, Elvis!
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 March 2008 03:28 (sixteen years ago) link
notice i said the difficulty level of math & science, not math & science classes. the connection between science and science education and the relative difficulty of each is subtle & mysterious
einstein is NOT a better scientist than rachel carson
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 21 March 2008 03:40 (sixteen years ago) link
his archives are "coming out" (AHEM) in 50 years
recent pics look much like Deathbed David Bowman
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 21 March 2008 20:52 (sixteen years ago) link
http://vhttp%3A//www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n0/n2203.jpg ^^^ the best.
RIP, may your heaven be filled with many frolicsome sri lankan lads.
― ian, Friday, 21 March 2008 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.nooranismith.co.uk/garage%20sale/books/rendezvous%20rama.jpg
― ian, Friday, 21 March 2008 21:06 (sixteen years ago) link
Great piece by Michael Moorcock here
― Matt #2, Saturday, 22 March 2008 18:32 (sixteen years ago) link
weird, the sun had a headline "the paedo has landed" day after he died. was o_O cos i didn't get the pun -- but anyway, it turned out to be about someone else, odd coincidence.
― banriquit, Saturday, 22 March 2008 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Shame!
(T_T)
― Pål Útlendi, Sunday, 23 March 2008 01:10 (sixteen years ago) link
the slugs' last episode of this series is the short story "the forgotten enemy" - hear myself, caek, and mark s talk about it here, with a reading at the beginning:
http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime
since recording this show i've found out it was actually written at least a year earlier than we'd said, and appeared in the king's college review of 1948! cambridge vs oxford FITE
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 13:45 (fifteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOaZspeSBZU
― Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Friday, 29 October 2010 09:07 (thirteen years ago) link
ebooks on sale right now at amazon. City and the Stars, Childhood's End, etc.
― Johnny Too Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 March 2013 19:40 (eleven years ago) link
Collected Stories too.
― Johnny Too Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 March 2013 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
wtf was that baja guy on about on this thread
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 8 March 2013 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
Wait, this last is some truncated "Volume 1" stuff. Never mind.
― Johnny Too Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 March 2013 19:54 (eleven years ago) link
Anyone else out there watch the Childhood's End miniseries?
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:06 (eight years ago) link
No, saw you mention on other thread.
― Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:12 (eight years ago) link
_Fred Pohl is still alive. Philip Jose Farmer is too, but he came a few years later._Just realized that Jack Vance is still alive too.
Just realized that Jack Vance is still alive too.
― Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:13 (eight years ago) link
I knew Vance was dead, but I was just thinking about him today. Specifically I was wondering if those two groups of fans who were arguing over whether it was spelt Wankh or Wannek had stopped yet.
― January 1, be the same sh!t as December 31 (snoball), Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:39 (eight years ago) link
I think about Vance every day tbh
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 27 December 2015 01:37 (eight years ago) link
I was looking at this list of the oldest living sci-fi and fantasy writers. None of the golden age writers I care about are around, but it's nice to know Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, and Ben Bova are still kicking. Hopefully I didn't just jinx their longevity.
― ¿ʇıɐʍ ʎɥʍ ˙ǝsdɐןןoɔ (Sanpaku), Sunday, 27 December 2015 02:37 (eight years ago) link
Interesting. Earl Hamner, Jr. Nicholas Moseley.
― Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 December 2015 02:48 (eight years ago) link
Phyllis Schlafly, noted sci-fi fantasy author
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 27 December 2015 03:52 (eight years ago) link
Is the miniseries worth tracking down? I was interested but didn't have time that week.
― something totally new, it’s the AOR of the twenty first century (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 27 December 2015 04:26 (eight years ago) link
sitting on my tivo, will prolly give it a shot sometime next year
― Does that make you mutter, under your breath, “Damn”? (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 27 December 2015 07:34 (eight years ago) link
Ursula K. Le Guin . . . still kicking
...and still blogging: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Blog2015.html#New
― a passing spacecadet, Sunday, 27 December 2015 15:19 (eight years ago) link
would've been 100 yesterday; had to persuade a friend he was no longer living
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 17 December 2017 16:06 (six years ago) link