Not a Good Year for SCI-FI

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Not a Good Year for SCI-FI

I'm going to be brief here, but I have to say that 2008 has not been a good year for science fiction. No, I'm not talking about bad movies or lack of good books or anything like that, I'm talking about much greater losses: in March we lost Sir Arthur C. Clarke, one of the greatest writers in the genre, and now, in November, we lost Michael Crichton. It's so weird, Michael Crichton was young (66 years old), looked a lot younger than that and seemed to be well and fit, but unfortunately what nobody knew is that he had cancer and was fighting a private fight with it, which he has lost.

I remember reading The Andromeda Strain when I was a kid, it was the second book of sci-fi that I remember reading, right after Isaac Azimov's I, Robot, and those two books got me hooked. And I don't even consider him "just" a sci-fi writer, because he had so many other great novels that escaped this genre, like Rising Sun and The Great Train Robbery, and I liked them all.

I would like to pay my respects to him and to say that I am very sad for this loss, the second great loss to sci-fi and to good literature this year.

Print | posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:47 PM | Filed Under [ General Personal ]

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# re: Not a Good Year for SCI-FI

Almost the same here. The first three books I got from the library were movie tie-ins: Asimov's "Fantastic Voyage" Crichton's "Andromeda Strain", and Clarke's "2001".

Crichton did more than entertain me. He taught me a lot about writing. He made the technology seem not just plausible, but commonplace, so it served the story without dominating the story.

11/25/2008 5:19 PM | Martin L. Shoemaker

# re: Not a Good Year for SCI-FI

Yes, I totally agree.
I´m very sad for these losses. Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Crichton were (and still are) landmarks on my readings, scientifc voyages and dreams.
2008 has not been a good year for science fiction and... music. Why am I remembering music here? Because this year Richard Wright (Pink Floyd keyboards player ) was a great loss, too: he died at 65, in London, in September. And his music and voice, for me, somehow is connected to that "scientific voyages", maybe because the way it sounds: his spacious, somber, enveloping keyboards, backing vocals and eerie effects were an essential part of Pink Floyd´s musical identity.

I would like to pay my deep respects to them.

11/26/2008 1:47 AM | CAC

# re: Not a Good Year for SCI-FI

I am in agreement as well. They both wrote great books which told amazing stories that so many the world over have enjoyed.

Another loss for us in 2008 was Gary Gygax. I remember being introduced to the game in grade school. D&D gave people a great game to really wrap their head around, not just a simple roll the die move your piece to that spot on the board common type of game. They will all be missed.

11/26/2008 4:00 PM | Bunch

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