So farewell then Arthur C Clarke, author, thinker and inventer of the geo-synchronous orbit (more or less). Although I always preferred Asimov myself, I can remember reading and re-reading Rendezvous with Rama and The Fountains of Paradise.
My favourite piece by him was the novella The City and the Stars, possibly the most atmospheric bit of sci-fi I’ve ever read, dripping with alienation, isolation, desperation, and finally hope.
And of course the short story that inspired this:
(With a little help from Stanley Kubrick). And in another collaboration with another underrated genius (in my opinion at least) The Songs of Distant Earth – turned into a cod-new age tranquil hippy chillout whalesong cheesefest of an album by Mike Oldfield, an album that regardless somehow manages to be one of my favourite.
Last of the big three sci-fi writers. We shan’t see his like again. I’m off to take loads of drugs and watch the starchild bit of 2001 again in memory of Arthur (or at least that’s my excuse).
Tom Scotney 