Well, this year’s Australian National Science Fiction Convention is firing up in Perth tomorrow night. Ken Macleod and Karl Schroeder and a bunch of the other cool folk are flying into town. Dinner plans have been made, babysitters arranged, and hopefully fun will be had by all.  I’m off to the airport soon-ish to pick up a friend who’s staying with us for part of the weekend.  Interesting times…

A quick follow-on.  Clarke was not the last of the greats. Giants from the earliest days of our field do still walk, ever more slowly, amongst us.  This November Tor will publish The Last Theorem, an Arthur Clarke novel that has been completed by Frederik Pohl.   Kate Wilhelm also recently published a new novel. I doubt Phil Farmer will write anything more, but SubPress continue to publish some lovely editions of his work.  One thing Clarke’s death highlights is the need for us to cherish those who are still here.

Associated Press have reported that Sir Arthur C. Clarke has died aged 90.  Clarke was one of the last of the giants of our field who was still alive and working well into the 21st Century.  Having read Childhood’s End and loved it, been moved by “The Nine Billion Names of God”, and awed by Rendezvous with Rama, I can only say that I think it’s a very, very sad loss for our field.  It also shows how important it is that we treasure Frederik Pohl, Philip Jose Farmer, Ray Bradbury, and the few others who remain from that rich, golden age when science fiction came of age.