But this time, the "grand old man" of science fiction is the one who's apparently passed, and I think if anyone deserves a nod, then Arthur C. Clarke does.
So much of his writing has influenced those who came after him, and even influenced how scientists approach the future; like Asimov was, Clarke is one of those without whom the face of modern science fiction -- and perhaps science -- would be different.
I have no words for the ways in which the man's writing touched me. An old radio adaptation of 'Childhood's End' that my father bought for me on cassette tape, along with battered used paperbacks of 'Islands in the Sky' and 'Rendezvous with Rama,' were among my first real, 'hard' science-fiction as a child.
He'll be missed, I think, but never forgotten. And he's had a good long life and earned his rest.
