SIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE DIES

Science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who co-wrote the epic film "2001: A Space Odyssey" and raised the idea of communications satellites in the 1940s, died Wednesday at age 90, an associate confirmed. Clarke died early Wednesday at a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since the 1950s, said Scott Chase, the secretary of the nonprofit Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. "He had been taken to hospital in what we had hoped was one of the slings and arrows of being 90, but in this case it was his final visit," Chase said

ALIEN : MOVIE POSTERS

HEINLEIN CRATER IN MARS

Heinlein Crater

Although there is no lunar feature named explicitly for Heinlein, this lack was rectified in 1994 when a major crater on Mars was named for him.

This image shows a complete mosaic of Mars assembled from Viking images. The center of the mosaic is the zero meridian; the split is at 180 degrees.The region of Heinlein crater is marked at lower right.

This image shows a mosaic of part of Mars' southern hemisphere, assembled from Viking images. The image is necessarily distorted.

The bottom center point of the mosaic is at Mars' south pole (90 degrees south); the top edge is at 42.5 degrees south. The two extreme longitudes are 180 degrees and 270 degrees; the center longitude is 225 degrees west.

Heinlein crater is the lowermost member of the large pair marked, at 64.6 degrees south, 243.8 degrees west, and is 83 km in diameter.

This image shows a closeup of Heinlein crater (the lower of the pair). The large adjoining crater is Weinbaum crater, named after science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum.

Other craters in the immediate region, visible in the southern hemisphere mosaic, include ones named for (Thomas) Huxley, (H.G.) Wells, (J.B.S.) Haldane and (Edgar Rice) Burroughs. All of these names are permanent and official, sanctioned by the IAU. Whether or not they're sanctioned by the Martians is yet to be seen.

SPACE:1999 - THE TV SERIES - ( I )

CLARKE + OLDFIELD - WHEN WORDS INSPIRE MUSIC - OR HOW MANY "SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH" DO YOU KNOW ?

Cover of "The Songs of Distant Earth", the novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Covers (front and back) of the musical work created by Mike Oldfield, "The Songs of Distant Earth", based in the Arthur C. Clarke novel.

Songs of Distant Earth (novel)
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)


Songs of Distant Earth is the common title of several science fiction works by Arthur C. Clarke, including a science fiction short story, a short movie synopsis, and a 1986 soft science fiction novel that all bear the same title. This article deals with the novel.


Plot summary

The story is centered on a rendezvous between human beings far in the future, after a time of great crisis on Earth, on the oceanic planet of Thalassa.
Unlike Clarke's other works, this piece focuses on characterisation and emotional development, instead of technological change. In some sense, it was written as a response to critics who attacked his writings as cold and impersonal.
In the novel, the human race responds to the prospect of unavoidable doom by launching a series of robot colony ships into space, to continue Earth life after the destruction of the homeworld (caused by the Sun becoming a nova). Thalassa is colonised by one such ship in 3109, but loses contact with Earth due to a volcanic eruption that destroys its interstellar communications antenna. Meanwhile, just prior to the Sun going nova, vacuum energy technology is invented to allow the construction of one near-light-speed vessel, the Magellan, which is launched to build the last colony of mankind. (Previous colony ships employed embryo space colonization, or various forms of DNA synthesis. In Magellan, a living crew of 1 million people is transported in cryonic suspension.)
En route to its target, the planet Sagan 2, the Magellan makes a planned stop at planet Thalassa to replenish its worn down ice shield, which has been steadily chipped away by interstellar debris. A small subset of the crew is awakened to perform the repair work on the shield. Because Thalassa has not maintained its interstellar communications antenna, the planet's citizens are unaware of the coming of the Magellan until the ship's arrival in orbit about the planet. The novel explores the impact of this reunion, documenting the efforts of the Magellan crew to repair their ship, and most poignantly, the possibility of love amidst the barriers of distance and time.

Scientific aspects

The story explored one possible outcome of the solar neutrino problem, which was unsolved at the time the story was written.
Though not fully reversible by current technology cryonic suspension (sometimes called cryogenic stasis) is indeed a reality [1] and a feasible medical procedure for human beings in the sense that a patient may await unchanged until the technology for the second half of the process (revival) has become a reality.
Recent tests (2005) have also shown the possibility of inducing a short term hibernation-like state on mice. [2]
Vacuum energy is a controversial feature of modern physics, and the concept has repeatedly been hijacked by pseudoscientific theories. In the acknowledgements to the book, Clarke considered using vacuum energy a scientifically viable, but highly futuristic, propulsion technology.
The logistics of space travel at near-light speeds is also explored in the novel in some detail, albeit with some errors for the sake of dramatic tension. The novel is also notable for featuring a Space Elevator. In his introduction notes to the novel, Clarke states that he wished it to be a realistic interstellar voyage, without use of warp drives or other fantastic technologies.

Cross-media Influences

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield was so moved by the novel, that he wrote an entire album based on it (see link above). Around this time, Oldfield was exploring computer game possibilities, and on UK editions of the CD album "The Songs Of a Distant Earth", Oldfield included a CD-ROM multi-media interactive exploration "game" of some notable locations from the book, including the "Hibernaculum". Buried within the game is the promotional video for the album's single "Let There Be Light". The album's artwork features stills from the CD-ROM. The CD-ROM portion is only playable on Mac (not PC) computers.
The total forms "Songs" has taken as of 2005:
the original short story, published in 1958 in The Other Side of the Sky
a little-known 5-page movie outline, published in 1979 (Omni Magazine, vol III no 12)
full-length novel (1986)
original album by Mike Oldfield
CD-ROM computer game (from the UK edition of the album)
promotional music video: "Let There Be Light"
A song by Kuribayashi Minami used in the video game Muv-Luv (the final chapter of the game is also named after Songs)

The Songs of Distant Earth (album)
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)



The Songs of Distant Earth is an album, written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It is based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel Songs of Distant Earth.
It was first released in 1994 (see 1994 in music) as a CD, and shortly afterward as an Enhanced CD of which two versions were made. The non-enhanced, CD album featured the image of the Manta flying in front of a planet on the front cover. This was also used on the initial release of the Enhanced CD version. However, it was later changed to the more common image of the Man in a suit holding a glowing orb with the Manta flying overhead. This second pressing of the enhanced CD (shown at right) contains slightly more multimedia content, such as the full version of the "Let There Be Light" video. The audio content is the same on all versions of the album.
In terms of Mike's career, The Songs of Distant Earth represented a foray into science fiction-related music. Songs such as "Supernova" and "Hibernaculum" could be seen as similar or even influenced by Enigma, while "New Beginning" has ethnic world chants in the style of Deep Forest. There are also Native American influences on the album. However to be fair, Mike Oldfield had been using a variety of ethnic musical styles since the 1970s, long before the emergence of Enigma or Deep Forest in the early 1990s. Such works as Ommadawn (1976) and Incantations (1978) featured extensive use of chanting and drumming in combination with uplifting instrumental solos. And more broadly, Mike's early work in the genre of atmospheric instrumental music tinged mixed with world and folk styles, is widely held as a forebear for the success of many other such instrumental artists.
Mike's interest in space and its connection to his music can also be cited elsewhere in his career, such as in the 1980 film entitled The Space Movie which featured a soundtrack wholly made up of music from Tubular Bells (1973), Hergest Ridge (1974), Ommadawn and Incantations, and for which Mike also wrote some original music.

Track listing

"In the Beginning" – 1:24
"Let There Be Light" – 4:57
"Supernova" – 3:23
"Magellan" – 4:40
"First Landing" – 1:16
"Oceania" – 3:19
"Only Time Will Tell" – 4:26
"Prayer for the Earth" – 2:09
"Lament for Atlantis" – 2:43
"The Chamber" – 1:48
"Hibernaculum" – 3:32
"Tubular World" – 3:22
"The Shining Ones" – 2:59
"Crystal Clear" – 5:42
"The Sunken Forest" – 2:37
"Ascension" – 5:49
"A New Beginning" – 1:37

Miscellanea

The then Chairman of Warner, Rob Dickins, suggested to Oldfield that he should do an album based on this particular piece of Clarke's work[1].
The spoken section at the beginning of the album is Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders reading from the Book of Genesis while orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve, 1968.
The Gregorian Chant on "Hibernaculum" is not Latin, but the chant on "Let There Be Light" is.
The Saami yoik chant on "Prayer For The Earth" was composed and performed by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. The chant is from the 1987 movie Ofelaš (The Pathfinder).
The enhanced CD content was taken from the inspirational of Oldfield's MusicVR project.

Clarke and Oldfield

The booklet of the album features a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke about the evolution of Songs of Distant Earth from short story to novel. It ends with the following about the album:
"Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for The Killing Fields and now, having played the CD of The Songs of Distant Earth, I feel he has lived up to my expectations.
Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room out here."
This was not the first time that Mike's music had been connected with the books of Arthur C. Clarke.
Prior to The Songs of Distant Earth, Mike had released Tubular Bells II, which featured a track called "Sentinel" — which also happened to be the title of a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke that later evolved into his most famous work, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Another track from Tubular Bells II was called "Sunjammer". The Arthur C. Clarke short story, The Wind From The Sun, had the working title of "Sunjammer".
Meanwhile, other track titles from Tubular Bells II may be less direct references to space and science fiction — "Weightless" and "Dark Star", for example. Dark Star was the name of a science fiction film by director John Carpenter, released in 1973, the same year as the original Tubular Bells.

2001: A SPACE ODISSEY - DO YOU REMEMBER ?

ROBERT HEINLEIN - A brief biography

Robert A(nson) Heinlein (1907-1988)

Prolific American writer, one of the grand masters of science fiction with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Heinlein produced during his career fifty novels and collections of short stories. Heinlein admired highly motivated men of action - like Howard Hawks in his movies - and attacked religious hypocrisy and corporate power games. His later works, in which his right-wing views mixed with fast-moving stories and fascination with with the paranormal, earned him the reputation of being a militarist, even a "fascist". However, a number of his book gained cult status among members of the counterculture.

"Furthermore, although a flaming liberal during the war, Heinlein became a rock-ribbed far-right conservative immediately afterward. This happened at just the time he changed wives from a liberal woman, Leslyn, to a rock-ribbed far-right conservative woman, Virginia... I used to brood about it in puzzlement (of course, I never would have dreamed of asking Heinlein - I'm sure he would have refused to answer, and would have done so with the uttermost hostility), and I did come to one conclusion. I would never marry anyone who did not generally agree with my political, social, and philosophical view of life." (from I, Asimov: A Memoir, 1994)

Robert A. Heinlein was born in Butler, Missouri, into a family of seven children. He attended public school in Kansas City and graduated from Central High School in 1924. In 1929 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and served in aircraft carriers and destroyers. During this period, he married Leslyn McDonald. In 1934 he was invalided out for tuberculosis. Heinlein started to study physics at the graduate school of U.C.L.A. He left the school without completing his studies and worked in odd jobs in mining and real estate without real success. At the age of thirty-two, he turned his hand to the writing science fiction. Heinlein's first published stories appeared in action-adventure pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1939. It was edited by John W. Campbell, who has been credited with moving science fiction toward its modern form. Under his influence writers started to examine how technology might affect the everyday life of ordinary people and society in general.

Heinlein never got over his navy discharge. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he tried to enlist but was rejected. During World War II years from 1943 Heinlein published no stories, but worked as an engineer at the Naval Air Experimental Station, Philadelphia. His first novel, ROCKET SHIP GALILEO (1947) paved way to childrens' science fiction. After divorce he married in 1948 Virginia Doris Gerstenfeld. From 1947 to 1959 Heinlein produced sixteen novels.

Heinlein's early works emphasized adventure and were aimed at young readers. In 1959 he received the Boys' Clubs of America Book Award. In these novels Heinlein avoided open didacticism, although his young protagonists learned lessons in courage, tolerance, and military virtues during the course of the story. Often Heinlein's male protagonist has to go through rites of passage - he meets a guru or somebody who has superior wisdom, and after a period of learning he has to earn his place in a group and prove his skills. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY (1957), dedicated to Fritz Leiber, was actually Oliver Twist in space. In the story a young boy, Thorby, is bought from an inter-galactic slave market by a mysterious beggar, a benefactor, who later turns out to be a secret agent. Thorby learns to speak Finnish and after all kinds of adventures he turns out to be from a wealthy corporate family from the Earth.

In STARSHIP TROOPERS (1959) Heinlein showed his fascination with the glamour of high-tech weaponry. The book earned him again the prestigious Hugo Award. Starship Troopers first appeared in abridged form in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1959. The hero is Juan "Johnnie" Rico, a son of a wealthy merchant who has enlisted in the army to impress the beautiful Carmen. After tough training he joins Rasczack's Roughnecks to battle against the "Bugs", intelligent arthropods. Johnnie's mother is killed in a bombing, Carmen becomes a starship pilot, and their mutual friend Carl dies in a battle in Pluto. Heinlein's militaristic novel attacks corruption and distorted views of democracy - only those willing to sacrifice their lives for the state may govern and vote. The social system of the Bugs represent "total communism", Heinlein's regular publisher, Scribner's refused to publish the book and it eventually appeared under the Putnam imprint. The film adaptation from 1997 played with the themes of fascism and militarism, but the comic book characters did not interest adult movie goers. "Whereas Heinlein's novel was punctuated by quotations from apocryphal books about warfare and social order, the movie has chosen to interpolate into the action a wearisome series of newscasts, media bulletins, and commercial advertisements. These interruptions serve no dramatic or satirical purpose whatsoever; they are merely annoying and, at best, sophomoric in their obvious humor." (from Novels into Film by John C. Tibbets and James M. Welsh, 1997)
From the late 1950s Heinlein started write expressly for adults and deal with such topics as cloning, incest, religion, free love and mysticism. Heinlein's religious views in direct opposition to the literal interpretation of biblical scripture: "The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history." (from Time Enough for Love, 1973)

Heinlein's short stories were independent of one another but related in the author's 'Future History: 1951-2600' AD time line. Some of his characters periodically appear in different novels, among the Lazarus Long from METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN (1958). In TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE (1973) Lazarus has a number of sexual adventures, travels back in time, and has sex with his own mother. "A "pacifist male" is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described "pacifist" are not pacifist; they simple assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger." (from Time Enough for Love, 1973) The life of Maureen Johnson, Lazarus's mother, is dealt in TO SAIL BEYOND THE SUNSET (1987). Nearly all of Heinlein's work fit into a specific time period within this larger scheme. The idea was later imitated by several writers, with considerable success by Poul Anderson and Larry Niven. Also Isaac Asimov developed similar scheme, and claimed imaginative copyright on the imagined future.

Among Heinlein's best known works is the pre-Hippie STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, published in 1961. A few years later it was adopted by the 'Peace and Love' generation. This work became the most successful science-fiction novel ever published. The protagonist is Valentine Michael Smith, a child of two members of the first expedition to Mars. He is born there and raised on by brillinatly advanced Martians after humans have died. A second Mars expedition discovers him and Michael comes to Earth without much knowledge of sex. He is shertered and educated by Jubal Harshaw, and old doctor, lawyer, and writer. Helped with psi powers he establishes a new religion and starts his transformation into a Messiah-figure. Michael is eventually killed by a mob, but his disciples, called "water brothers," continue his work. Again, like in many Heinlein's works, a small elite rises above the masses and show the way to future. Stranger in a Strange Land was one of the favorite books of the mass murderer Charles Manson. "When he started his "family" in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Manson borrowed some of the terminology and ceremonies from the book. It is reported that his followers held water-sharing ceremonies as well as group sex orgies. He referred to his parole officer as "Roger Smith Jubal," after Jubal Harshaw, Mike's mentor. When Mary Theresa Brunner, one of Manson's followers, gave birth to a baby boy in 1968, Manson named the child Valentine Michael Manson." (from Chronology of Twentieth-Century History: Arts & Culture, volume II, ed. by Frank N. Magill, 1998)

GLORY ROAD (1963) has been decades one of Heinlein's most popular books, written in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars stories. The protagonist is Oscar Gordon who experiences a series of adventures with a beautiful woman, Star, and an old man, Rufo, who have their secrets. MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS (1966) was set in an exploited penal colony, Luna. All dissident and other unfits have been sent there and soon the best brains invents new forms of marriage due to shortage of women. The protagonist has an artificial left arm, or several of them for special purposes. In I WILL FEAR NO EVIL (1971) a dying tycoon, Johann Smith, has his brain transplanted into the body of Eunice, a young black woman. Johann has her body impregnated with his frozen sperm. CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS (1985) was about alternate histories and time travels. Colonel Colin Campbell, alias Senator Richard Johnson, alias doctor Richard Ames, is a warrior, philosopher, and wanderer, who saves the history and future of multiversum. Also Schrödinger's cat has an important role in the story.

Usually Heinlein spent some three months with his writing and travelled widely for the rest of the time. In 1973 he taught as James V. Forrestal Lecturer at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was awarded the first Grand Master Nebula in 1975. Heinlein was repeatedly voted as 'the best all-time author' in reader's polls held by the magazine Locus in 1973 and 1975. He died on May 8, 1988.

For further reading: World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by M. Seymour-Smith, A.C. Kimmes (1996); The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. by John Clute, Peter Nicholls (1995); Robert A. Heinlein Cyclopedia by N.B.A. Downing (1989); Robert A. Heinlein by L. Stover (1987); Yesterday or Tomorrow? The Work of Robert A. Heinlein by R. Reginald (1984); Robert A. Heinlein by P. Nicholls (1982) Robert A. Heinlein by H.B. Franklin (1980); Robert A. Heinlein, ed. by J.D. Clander and M.H. Greenberg (1978); The Classic Years of Robert. A. Heinlein by G.E. Slusser (1977); Robert A. Heinlein by G.E. Slusser (1977): Heinlein in Dimensions by A. Panshin (1968) - Note: Heinlein's social Darwinist view - 'the survival of the fittiest' - is seen among others in his works The Puppet Masters (1951), Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. - For further information: The Heinlein Society

Selected works:

LIFE-LINE, 1939 (first short story) - Elämänlanka
THE DISCOVERY OF THE FUTURE, 1941 (address)
ROCKET SHIP GALILEO, 1947
OF WORLDS BEYOND, 1947 (with others)
BEYOND THIS HORIZON, 1948 - Yli-ihmisen aika
SPACE CADET, 1948 - basis for the television series 'Tom Corbett: Space Cadet' - Rakettilaivan kadetti
RED PLANET, 1949
SIXTH COLUMN, 1949 (reissued as THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW) - Seitsemän miehen sota
THE MAN WHO SOLD THE MOON, 1950 - Mies joka myi kuun
FARMER IN THE SKY, 1950
WALDO AND MAGIC, INC., 1950
screenplay: DESTINATION MOON, 1950 - based on Rocket Ship Galileo, with Rip Van Ronkel and James O´Hanlon
THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH, 1951
BETWEEN PLANETS, 1951
UNIVERSE / ORPHANS OF THE SKY, 1951
THE PUPPET MASTERS, 1951
ed.: TOMORROW, THE STARS, 1952
THE ROLLING STONES / SPACE FAMILY STONE, 1952
REVOLT IN 2100, 1953 - Kapina 2100
STARMAN JONES, 1953
screenplay: PROJECT MOONBASE, 1953
ASSINGMENT IN ETERNITY, 1953
THE STAR BEAST, 1954
TUNNEL IN THE SKY, 1955
DOUBLE STAR, 1956 (Hugo Award) - Panoksena tulevaisuus
TIME FOR THE STARS, 1956
television plays: TOM CORBETT: SPACE CADET, aired from 1951-56
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER, 1957
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY, 1957 - Galaksin kansalainen
FAMOUS SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, 1957 (with others)
METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN, 1958 - Maan hylkimät
HAVE SPACE SUIT, WILL TRAVEL, 1958
STARSHIP TROOPERS, 1959 (Hugo Award) - film 1997, dir. by Paul Verhoeven, written by Ed Nuemeyer
THE MENACE FROM EARTH, 1959
THE SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL, 1959 (with others)
THE UNPLEASANT PROFESSION OF JONATHAN HOAG, 1959 (reissued as 6 x H)
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, 1961 (Hugo Award, complete version in 1991)
PODKAYNE OF MARS, 1963 - Taistelu Venuksessa
GLORY ROAD, 1963
THREE BY HEINLEIN, 1965
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS, 1966 (Hugo Award) - Kuu on julma
A ROBERT HEINLEIN OMNIBUS, 1966
THE WORLDS OF ROBERT A HEINLEIN, 1966
THE PAST THROUGH TOMORROW, 1967
I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, 1970
TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE, 1973
THE BEST OF ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, 1973 (2 vols.)
THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG, 1978
DESTINATION MOON, 1979
TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE; EXPANDED UNIVERSE, 1980
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, 1980
EXPANDED UNIVERSE, 1980
FRIDAY, 1982
preface: HIGH FRONTIER, 1983
JOB: A COMEDY OF JUSTICE, 1984 - Tuomiopäivän komedia
THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS: A COMEDY OF MANNERS, 1985 - Kissa muurin läpi
TO SAIL BEYOND THE SUNSET, 1987
GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE, 1990
TRAMP ROYALE, 1992 (travel, book, written between 1953 and 1954)
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN REQUIEM, 1992