Hal Clement passed away today. He was one of the giants of science fiction writing and he'll be sorely missed. I first met him back when I was in junior high school. He was coming to the high school to take part in a reading program in which students could read an author's work, then get to meet the author. Because my teachers knew I liked science fiction so much, I had the option to take part in this with the high school students rather than the author who was meeting with the students my own age. (For some reason, i'm thinking this was Marion Zimmer Bradley--I know she visited out area once on this same program.)

In any case, he was very friendly to that kid-version of me, even having lunch with me that day, and encouraged both my interest in science and in writing. While my facility with science didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, I still count him as one of my larger influences and inspirations behind my writing. Books like NEEDLE, ICEWORLD, and MISSION OF GRAVITY were classics, and gave Hal an opportunity to postulate not only about other worlds and alien environments, but other lifeforms--and not necessarily the life-as-we-know-it variety. Last I heard, he had a new book coming out soon called NOISE. He was active up to the very end. I saw him at Torcon a number of times, and he was reported to have been to the recent Albacon.

He's going to be greatly missed by myself, and legions of others. For more on Hal Clement, check out:
http://www.geocities.com/gamgeephile/hal/

Who is Hal Clement?"

Rob Sawyer's Tribute to Hal Clement

Wikipedia's entry on Hal Clement

These sites barely touch upon the fullness that was his life, but they're good places to start.

Hot jets, Harry!