A fond farewell to a friend I never met.

Tonight I wish a fond farewell to Arthur C. Clarke, my favorite author, well, ever.

Despite being born well-after the space race happened, his stories of adventures beyond this planet fascinated me from a young age. Although people are mostly familiar with 2001: A Space Odyssey, I was more enamoured with his short stories. The very first one I read was The Nine Billion Names of God, and with those eight pages I was absolutely hooked.

Sadly, I have had a few opportunities to meet Arthur C. Clarke while he was in town giving discussions, and I never took advantage of any of them. Regrets? Probably. Such is life.

Thanks for energizing my imagination of time travel, far-away planets, criminals on astroids, kittens in space, and other unusual topics which provides a wonderful escape into what may become the future of our civilization.