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Arthur C. Clarke (1918-2008) a remembrance by GF Willmetts
01/04/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
With the death of Arthur C. Clarke, we've lost another of the original Grand Masters of Science Fiction. A former denizen of my home county Somerset in Great Britain, Arthur C. Clarke made his mark on the world that I doubt if few Science Fiction authors will do so under similar conditions again. He'll be sorely missed. Buy Arthur C. Clarke in the USA - or Buy Arthur C. Clarke in the UK  With the death of Arthur C. Clarke, we've lost another of the original Grand Masters of Science Fiction. Uniquely, if he's to be remembered for anything its having the original idea for satellite communication and for being the writer of the story and iconic films '2001: A Space Odyssey' and its sequel '2010'. There are very few SF authors who can claim that on their CV. Yet, this has only been a small part of his career which spanned both in science and our own Science Fiction.
When it comes to Science Fiction, I doubt if there's anyone out there reading here who hasn't read a few of his novels or short fiction. Clarke was spectacular with ideas more than with characters yet when he did them right they invariably worked. One only has to look at 'Childhood's End' or 'A Fall Of Moondust' to show he could command characters both human and alien. However, when it came to big dumb objects or rather intelligent big objects as witnessed by the monolith stargate from '2001' or the wandering giant alien spacecraft from the 'Rama' trilogy, Clarke came into his own. Science Fiction is the genre of big ideas and he was well at home with displaying them in spectacular fashion.
The same could be said of how he saw mankind develop technology. Had it not been for budget cuts, we might well have seen space stations and bases on the moon as depicted in '2001' by now. This didn't stop Clarke seeing the potential of spaceships with sails to harness the energy of the sun for a free energy supply or rigging space elevators at the equator to take people up into orbit rather than spacecraft. Whether the practicalities of either will ever come to light is debatable but they should inspire people to think big rather than small when it comes to moving out into space.
Probably the best memory I have of Arthur C. Clarke is from one of the early Apollo flights around the Moon reporting back disappointedly that they hadn't discovered a monolith there. Clarke might not have been that directly involved with real space travel but he certainly inspired others to head in that direction.
A former denizen of my home county Somerset in Great Britain, Arthur C. Clarke made his mark on the world that I doubt if few Science Fiction authors will do so under similar conditions again. He'll be sorely missed.
GF Willmetts
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