death, and life
Mar. 18th, 2008 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauraanne_gilmanCame home to news that Arthur C Clark has died. Sad news, but not terribly unexpected -- he was 90, and not in good health, and it was a gift that we had him with us as long as we did. The last of the Big Three* has left terra firma. *raises glass* Your memory, sir.
EtA: Over on makinglight, the following quote struck me: unlike many other writers who've wrestled with that wrenching frame shift, for Clarke it was rarely terrifying, rarely an engine of alienation and despair. He was all about the transformational reframe, the cosmic perspective, that step off into the great shining dark. He believed it would improve us. He rejoiced to live in a gigantic universe of unencompassable scale, and he thought the rest of us should rejoice, too.
I thihk that is why I don't enjoy much of the SF being written now. The "woe, the universe is vast and we are small" attitude does not appeal to me as much as the "wow, the universe is vast and we are small" 'tude I grew up reading.
On slightly related but much better news, thanks to those who sent good vibes for my mom: everything went well, she's in recovery now, and we should be able to collect her tomorrow morning. Much relieved.
And that's all I got. It's been a long and very draining day, and all I want to do right now is kick back with a bottle of wine and be a lump...
ETA: I love NYC. The ability to have a lamb kabab platter delivered at 10pm is just so...civilized.
*Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. I only knew Asimov personally, but they all kicked my then-teenaged brain into places that would not have been possible, otherwise
EtA: Over on makinglight, the following quote struck me: unlike many other writers who've wrestled with that wrenching frame shift, for Clarke it was rarely terrifying, rarely an engine of alienation and despair. He was all about the transformational reframe, the cosmic perspective, that step off into the great shining dark. He believed it would improve us. He rejoiced to live in a gigantic universe of unencompassable scale, and he thought the rest of us should rejoice, too.
I thihk that is why I don't enjoy much of the SF being written now. The "woe, the universe is vast and we are small" attitude does not appeal to me as much as the "wow, the universe is vast and we are small" 'tude I grew up reading.
On slightly related but much better news, thanks to those who sent good vibes for my mom: everything went well, she's in recovery now, and we should be able to collect her tomorrow morning. Much relieved.
And that's all I got. It's been a long and very draining day, and all I want to do right now is kick back with a bottle of wine and be a lump...
ETA: I love NYC. The ability to have a lamb kabab platter delivered at 10pm is just so...civilized.
*Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. I only knew Asimov personally, but they all kicked my then-teenaged brain into places that would not have been possible, otherwise
