R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

I have to put in a brief note of sadness that one of my cultural icons from way back, Arthur C. Clarke, passed away at age 90...a good run, I suppose. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein, science fiction giants from early in my life, compelled me to pick up books at an age when there are many lesser diversions. I remember accompanying my dad to hear Clarke lecture on his vision of the future, down at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore. Childhood's End, 2001, the Rama books, Songs of Distant Earth... The guy was good. Not sure who can pick up the slack.