Starfleet Jedi

Science fiction legend and author Arthur C. Clarke has died today

Let us take time to remember the great man who helped bring us 2001: A Space Odyssey and classic stories like "Childhood's End", and invented the concept of the geostationary satellite. There are few like him, and he will be missed.
-Mike

I feel like Arthur C. Clarke is to Science-Fiction as what J.R.R. Tolkien is to Fantasy: two of the greatest influential authors in their respective genres...

Dang. That really sucks.

Praeothmin wrote:I feel like Arthur C. Clarke is to Science-Fiction as what J.R.R. Tolkien is to Fantasy: two of the greatest influential authors in their respective genres...

While Clarke was a giant in the field of science fiction literature, the titular title of "the J.R.R. Tolkien of SF" belongs rightfully to the late great Frank Herbert for his Dune Chronicles, in particular, the original Dune.
-Mike

IMO, Clarke and Asimov were in a league to themselves as giants more or less defining the "hard" SF genre. Many also include the monstrously-well-selling Heinlein in a "big three."

That's not to say that Herbert isn't a giant in his own right, and some would prefer to put him rather than Heinlein in the three greatest-stature giants, but he doesn't really have quite the influence or reach that Clarke does.

Praeothmin wrote:I feel like Arthur C. Clarke is to Science-Fiction as what J.R.R. Tolkien is to Fantasy: two of the greatest influential authors in their respective genres...

Of course, the obvious difference between the two is that Clarke could write worth a damn, and not just a world-builder.