Well said, that about the passing of an era. I'm currently re-reading my Foundation series, and still find them as great as the first time. The robot stories are wonderful, too--hard to say what is the best of them. And,yes, I nearly forgot Anderson! Of course, he should belong to that science fiction writers' "pantheon" as well...

Naemanson, your Wookie poetry is really cool! The full body wig nearly made me snort my tea all over my monitor! There's a cartoon in it somewhere, I'll see if I get it out. Wish I could write fun stuff like that, but sadly, I'm just a scrawny little Rebel pilot in dire need of a haircut and no sense for poetry...but wait...there's something creeping into my brain:

The Rebel Pilot's Space Chantey
(Tune: The Lands of Liberty)

Then I'll cut off my long yellow hair,
Orange overalls I'll don.
I'll sign on a Calamari ship,
My passage I'll work free
And I'll fly the great big galaxy
In search of the Mudwookie!

Ahem. My two cents. (Yeah I know, but it's late at night here so don't yell at me :-)