io9

Here's to you, Clarke, on the Final Odyssey. Godspeed.

Such a wonderful visionary and responsible for some of the greatest stories ever written. A true loss to the science fiction world and literature in general. He'll be remember forever for some of his greatest works, of which there are many.

Just saw this on the AP-- fond farewell.
Many condolences to his family and friends... we should all have such a long and prodigious life.

:( One of the greatest Sci-Fi writers ever. A visionary who helped lead the genre ahead in thinking and in technology but also helped in the real world with his ideas. Condolences to his family and his friends and to all his fans.

I'm only good at shooting my mouth off so I'll just say... Farewell and Godspeed, you'll be missed.

Men like him deserve to live a long time.
And thank you, Mr. Clarke, with what you did with that time.

Farewell, thank you. I hope you have embarked upon your greatest journey.

I am surprised to hear of his death, since it was always my understanding that prophets ascended directly to heaven. Apparently he wore a shirt that read; 'I invented the trillion-dollar communications satellite industry and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!'
Genius.

I don't know much of his work, but I will say that "2001" is both an amazing book and film. It's really hard to top in terms of concepts like "the big picture" and "starting at the beginning."

Words actually fail me. Sir Clarke contributed so much to science and literature during his long career and will continue to inspire generations of humanity to come.
Ad astra per aspera.

Godspeed

Indeed. I owe Mr. Clarke a unpayable debt. The very first sci-fi book I ever picked up - in fact it was the first "grown up" fiction of any sort - was penned by him. That slim book broadened my life in ways that words just can never describe. If I had the rest of eternity to try, I could not possibly thank him enough.

But I'll try anyway. Thank you, sir.

Yeah, thanks for the many years of pleasure you've provided, and farewell. PS: I forgave you long ago for those unnecessary sequels to 2001.

FUCK ME!!! That sucks! How can you do this. I was hoping he'd live long enough to be the first President of the Planet Earth. Oh well, Vernor Vinge is gonna have to take the job instead.

Well... now that the shock is settling, thanks for the brilliant memories, Rendezvous with Rama rocked out really hard.

Later dude... happy sailing.

Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein were what really got me into sci-fi when I was growing up - now all three of these pioneers are gone. The end of an era... well, I guess it's been over for a while, but this really seems to seal it.

RIP, and thanks for providing such wonderful imagination fodder.

A great man...he will be missed.

The man was not afraid to look up, and think about what he saw, and what our place in the universe might be.

Well done, sir, and many thanks.

Not only a brilliant writer but also a charming human being. Tales from the White Hart was my first exposure to the short story format. Decades later, I still find it a delightful read--"The Ultimate Melody" gives me shivers everytime. He will be missed!

A bright light of the Golden Age has burned out and joins his brethren in eternal contemplation of the night. We are diminished by the loss, but we are more than amply filled with the gifts he left behind.

May the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on your soul Arthur. Sigh. Another master gone.

I just re-read (for the N th time) Childhood's End, thinking it was time to pick him back up, while simultaneously wanting End as a movie, and dreading what Hollyweird would do to it.
Blessed Be, Arthur...

Damn, first Gygax, now Clarke. This isn't shaping up as a good year for geeks. :-(
RIP, mate!

He was my introduction to science fiction and has remained one of my favorites. He proved that science fiction can be scientifically literate.

Thanks, Sir Arthur. You took us to Halley's Comet and Titan; you evolved with us from man-apes to a god-child. You brought Rama and demons to earth and even taught us all of God's names.

Farewell, Carbon Based Biped!

Farewell, Carbon Based Biped! You took me from Halley's Comet to Titan, evolved me from a man-ape to a god-child, brought my world, Rama and demons. You even helped me find the names of god.

Thanks for showing that science fiction can also be science literate!

sorry for the double post, had a crash and didn't thint it made in on...

@cowboy_k:
Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein, the true trinity that shaped the world. May they each get what they deserve in whatever comes next.

he will be missed

Pour one out for a true baller.

A friend of mine (whose ever-practical mind moves at many times the speed of my own glacially slow head-ballast) responded to this news with a question about what was to be done with the body.

Whilst that is obviously and rightly a matter for the dispensers of his will, I would be interested to read what coolly appropriate suggestions we here can come up with to honour the Great Man.

How about sending his ashes to one of Jupiter's moons on the next probe?

Saddening news, the last of the giants has passed. The world mourns.

Aw, man.

sniff. He will be missed.

No one would argue that he was ahead of his time, and sad to see that time has passed.
Hard to pick a favorite story, but I've always had a soft spot for "The Nine Billion Names of God"...(there's always a last time for everything).

Thank you, Arthur. This was better world for your time upon it.

To Arthur C. Clarke. If anybody was a time-traveller, it was him.

That stinks. I grew up reading his work.

Always had a secret wish to meet him and tell him how much his books meant. Thank you and rest in peace, Mr. Clarke.

And, one by one, the stars went out.

Too bad about the whole pedophile thing.

Not enough attention has been paid to his work. So many jumped on the "fill in the blank" punk wagon when what would have been better for the development of the sci-fi genre is a further exploration of his transcendental ideas. I'm very sad that we wont be blessed with anymore of his imaginations and prognostications. …a true master, who always had as his goal the further development of the human species. Peace be with him.

It's very frustrating that not a single NEWS outlet and most blogs fail to mention that he was a gay man. His contribution through his non-fiction writing to our shared vision of space commercialization is comparable to Alan Turing's contribution to computation logic and artificial intelligence and, over 50 years later, sadly, Sir Clarke is treated with no more dignity or respect in his death...

Requie In Pace et dormiens aeternitas, Sir Clarke.

We are forever grateful for all the memories you have given us.

THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH is such a beautiful story, but the ACC book that has been on my mind recently is IMPERIAL EARTH. Clarke imagines an America where all automobile traffic is automated, extinguishing the problem of auto-related deaths. When one has created so much with imagination (worlds, literally worlds) it is only fitting and beautiful when it is his time to join them. Bon voyage.

@Cacafuego: Just ignore the urges and see a therapist and I'm sure you can overcome it. Moron.

@Innings Eater: Actually he has been accused of being a paedophile a number of times. If it's true then good riddance. If it's not then it's a highly unfortunate thing to have that label against your life's work.

Why does this show on the home page in a small headline? I totally missed it, and thought that io9 had missed it. I still don't understand why there's two different styles of headlines.

As for the event itself: it's not possible to describe the scope of this loss.

@cybergrunt: And cleared. Unless you're some legal authority and have investigative evidence, you should speak only of what you know, not what you speculate.

@HomoSapiensRex: Io. They should really be landed on Io.

He will be missed. One of my favorite short story volumes is The Sentinel, illustrated by Lebbius Woods.

Fantastic collaboration.

Ray Bradbury is still alive though!

A great writer, a great thinker, a true Brit expat who rose above it all (inlude baseless tabloid rumors fueled by some crank with an obscure private agenda) and kept working till the end. OK, those last works weren't his best, but his overall body of work still stands the test of time. And if you read his novelization of 2001, the movie's ending will actually make sense.
He will be missed.

Thank you for the satellite and the space elevator.
Rest in peace old man.
May you be at one with the monolith.

Daisy ... Daisy ... give me your answer ... .. do ..

the hatch bay doors are open for you

In my opinion the greatest Science Fiction writer ever and just an all-round interesting guy. Rest in Peace

A sad day indeed.

A big collection of Clarke short stories is what got me interested in SF in the first place. A man with great vision and the ability to put it into words superbly.

Rest in peace.

He will always live in our hearts and imaginations. Godspeed.

What a life he had! I wish I had half of his imagination.

Sad sad loss.

The Wiki nerds have been arguing yesterday and today about whether to include the pedophilia accusations in Clarke's wiki entry. It sounds like the accusations came from one newspaper, The Sunday Mirror; he was investigated by Sri Lankan police and cleared; and The Mirror retracted the claim.

I've also read on a couple of gay blogs this morning that there was widespread speculation that Clarke was gay. Pedophilia accusations are standard-issue homophobia.

He was a great writer and a phenomenal thinker. Hopefully, the stupid pedophilia accusations will just be a minor footnote or dismissed altogether.

@extracrispy: I don't understand why people wanna add such things at all costs. I mean, he was never officially accused of pedophilia (By a NEWSPAPER? COME ON!), never convicted. That means that NO, he wasn't a pedophile.

He was awesome and that's all we need to remember.

...And uh, what's with gay blogs and groups always wanting to you know, point at celebrities that might be gay and make a big deal/trophy out of it? I never understood that... Just an eyebrow rising point.

@IrisMR: Wait, I think we're in agreement on the pedophilia charge. It's dumb and shouldn't even be mentioned. I only expounded on it because some other moron brought it up earlier in this thread without providing the background.

As for the gay thing, I think it's important to gay men and women to have icons they can identify with and look up to because there are so few. And I'd hardly call a few blog mentions "making a big deal of it." It's not like anyone's proposed Clarke's birthday a major gay holiday.

@extracrispy: Well, in fairness his birthday IS close to Christmas which could arguably be defined as a "major gay holiday."

Here's to Mr Clarke finding a place at the storyteller's table in whatever afterlife he ascended into.

@Seth L: Yes, Bradbury, who is often overlooked in the science fiction