Left In Lowell

Once, in the dawn of my writing career, I aspired not to be a political blogger…but a science fiction and fantasy writer. Yes, I spent quite a few teenage hours scribbling stories in spiral bound notebooks (in the days before my family had bought into, or rather, inherited, a word processor) inventing characters and relishing in interesting turns of phrase. Once we got that old orange-and-black screened monstrosity (not too different from this one) I happily banged out those stories on a keyboard, discovering the wonderful freedom of typing instead of handwriting.

Though it all, I devoured - and no other word describes it - every science fiction and fantasy book I could lay my hands on. My library is what it is today because my spare babysitting money frequently bought me books. I loved everything, but I especially loved the old masters, Asimov and Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and Le Guin. And Arther C. Clark. Who bridged the gap effortlessly between real science and fiction. The progenitor of the so-called “hard S-F” genre.

Today, Clark passed away at the respectable age of 90. He leaves behind him a body of work that is hardly equaled. He could make you believe in the future. Unlike those that came after, who wrote in an age of cynicism and dystopia, his books shone a light on what science could be. Against the backdrop of advanced science that appeared to his characters as magic, he wove stories that illuminated the human condition.

I read his 2001: A Space Odyssey long before seeing the Kubrick film. I hated the Kubrick film. I loved the novel.

Because of writers like Clark, I had the great opportunity, at an early age, to open my mind to the possibilities of what the future might hold. It is why I can hold some measure of optimism in a world that demands realism, where every purveyor of conventional wisdom says to us, never believe, where science and progress have not solved so many of our problems but have caused many more. These stories taught me how to take the long view, to keep the horizon in sight…to never take anything at face value, whether it’s alien technology freely given for a price, or political promises by any party…and to understand that our greatest treasure as human beings is how we relate to the world around us and to each other, no matter what era we live in.

Thank you, Arthur, for your words…and your vision.