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The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, The City and the Stars, and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke is the most celebrated science fiction author alive. He is—with H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein—one of the writers who define science fiction in our time. Now Clarke has cooperated in the preparation o...more
Paperback, 966 pages
Published
January 14th 2002
by Tom Doherty Associates/Orb Books
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Corytregoart
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone even vaguely interesting in science fiction.
Shelves:
science-fiction
Arthur C. Clarke is a brilliant man, and no where does his brilliance shine brighter than in his short stories. I've read some of his novels, and enjoyed them, but they often suffer somewhat from deficiencies in characterization. Short stories are often too...well, short for this to become a problem, so Clarke is free to do what he does best: explore fascinating and brilliantly original ideas. Some of his ideas are so unexpected that they make my jaw drop, or force me to laugh out loud. Take the...more
Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories
Gollancz/Orion, Paperback, 2001.
8vo. x+966 pp. Foreword by Arthur Clarke, June 2000 [ix-x].
First published thus, 2000.
Reprinted, 2001 and 2002.
Undated 10th printing, fixed typos and ''Superiority''-problem.
Contents*
Foreword
1. Travel by Wire! [1937]
2. How We Went to Mars [1938]**
3. Retreat from Earth [1938]
4. Reverie [1939]**
5. The Awakening [1942]...more
The Collected Stories
Gollancz/Orion, Paperback, 2001.
8vo. x+966 pp. Foreword by Arthur Clarke, June 2000 [ix-x].
First published thus, 2000.
Reprinted, 2001 and 2002.
Undated 10th printing, fixed typos and ''Superiority''-problem.
Contents*
Foreword
1. Travel by Wire! [1937]
2. How We Went to Mars [1938]**
3. Retreat from Earth [1938]
4. Reverie [1939]**
5. The Awakening [1942]...more
An enjoyable read: They've brought out another edition and they seem to have proofread it this time; I only noticed a small handful of errors in nearly 1000 pages. (At least, the edition I got in the UK was fine.) So don't be put off by tales of dreadful misspellings, the danger has passed.
It's a nice little collection of stories, although not quite as good as I expected from his reputation. This is partly personal preference: I'm not terribly interested in space travel, which is the subject of
...more
Included stories:
Travel by Wire!
How We Went to Mars
Retreat From Earth
Reverie
The Awakening
Whacky
Loophole
Rescue Party
Technical Error
Castaway
The Fires Within
Inheritance
Nightfall
History Lesson
Transience
The Wall of Darkness
The Lion of Comarre
The Forgotten Enemy
Hide-and-Seek
Breaking Strain
Nemesis
Guardian Angel
Time's Arrow
A Walk in the Dark
Silence P...more
Travel by Wire!
How We Went to Mars
Retreat From Earth
Reverie
The Awakening
Whacky
Loophole
Rescue Party
Technical Error
Castaway
The Fires Within
Inheritance
Nightfall
History Lesson
Transience
The Wall of Darkness
The Lion of Comarre
The Forgotten Enemy
Hide-and-Seek
Breaking Strain
Nemesis
Guardian Angel
Time's Arrow
A Walk in the Dark
Silence P...more
Forget Arthur C. Clarke's heavy reputations: the futurist, the founding father of hard science fiction. Clarke was a master of the suspenseful short story, of the twist ending.
Turning to the final page of a story, out of the corner of your eye, you see the blankness after it ends. After the first few stories in this book, I became conditioned to connect that sensation with my mind being blown. Even now, I can open this book and begin reading a story. When I begin to expect a story to end, the ha...more
Turning to the final page of a story, out of the corner of your eye, you see the blankness after it ends. After the first few stories in this book, I became conditioned to connect that sensation with my mind being blown. Even now, I can open this book and begin reading a story. When I begin to expect a story to end, the ha...more
Forget Arthur C. Clarke's heavy reputations: the futurist, the founding father of hard science fiction. Clarke was a master of the suspenseful short story, of the twist ending.
Turning to the final page of a story, out of the corner of your eye, you see the blankness after it ends. After the first few stories in this book, I became conditioned to connect that sensation with my mind being blown. Even now, I can open this book and begin reading a story. When I begin to expect a story to...more
Turning to the final page of a story, out of the corner of your eye, you see the blankness after it ends. After the first few stories in this book, I became conditioned to connect that sensation with my mind being blown. Even now, I can open this book and begin reading a story. When I begin to expect a story to...more
As far as I know Arthur Clarke occupies a level of science fiction that only Isaac Asimov shared. Every time he had a scientific idea or came across a new piece of science, he wrote a short story about it. If he encountered several ideas and couldn't disentangle them, he'd write a novel about them. Clarke breaks from Asimov in that his prose a bit more fluid, his subject-matter is sometimes treated too abstractly for perfect translation into his storytelling (such as the one-sided wall in the fi...more
Downloaded from Audible.com
The actual title of the Audible.com book is:
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke: 1937-1999 (Unabridged Selections)
Narrator: Arte Johnson, Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, and more
Publisher: Audio Literature, 2002
Length: 12 hours and 26 min.
Publisher's Summary
From early stories like "Breaking Strain," to classics like "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the la...more
The actual title of the Audible.com book is:
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke: 1937-1999 (Unabridged Selections)
Narrator: Arte Johnson, Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, and more
Publisher: Audio Literature, 2002
Length: 12 hours and 26 min.
Publisher's Summary
From early stories like "Breaking Strain," to classics like "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the la...more
When I first purchased this book, I did it because I have a tendency to not be able to put a good read down (I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy in three days - I would even read while cooking, literally holding the book in one hand and stirring a pot with the other). I figured, "Hey, it's short stories, how involved can I get."
Apparently a lot. This collection really gives you a sense of Clarke's maturation as an author over a span of decades, and it also serves as a ch...more
Apparently a lot. This collection really gives you a sense of Clarke's maturation as an author over a span of decades, and it also serves as a ch...more
Jamie
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of "The Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits"
Shelves:
sci-fi,
short-stories
Clarke was a prolific writer. Some would say that qualifies as being a great writer, but I would say that putting out a high quantity of stories just fills the bell curve as far as quality of stories. Maybe it is because of the span of time over which these were written, but many of them read like episodes of "The Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits" - and many more read like bad episodes of such.
Reading these stories, you get a feel for where the seeds of other sci...more
Reading these stories, you get a feel for where the seeds of other sci...more
Orson Scott Card talks a lot about idea-based vs. character-based science fiction, with the point that character-based stories are, in a word, better.
I didn't realize quite how far one could go into the idea-based side of things before I read this book. Some of Clarke's stories, especially the earlier ones, don't even have characters!
I was surprised to see that Clarke stays within the solar system the large majority of the time, often going no further than the moon.
...more
I didn't realize quite how far one could go into the idea-based side of things before I read this book. Some of Clarke's stories, especially the earlier ones, don't even have characters!
I was surprised to see that Clarke stays within the solar system the large majority of the time, often going no further than the moon.
...more
Many interesting short stories. Some of his later novels come from the stories in this book. For example, "The Sentinel" was the seed of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". As with any collection of short stories, some are better than others, and some will stick in your mind for a long time - they paint a picture or evoke a single feeling.
This book spans Clarke’s stunning career and offers a window into his mind, which words do not exist to describe. It’s a pity that humanity has lost him. I’m glad that I forced myself to wade through this immense collection. Just amazing.
An absolute must-have for Arthur C. Clarke fans.
In addition to the stories are brief notes from Clarke himself framing the work. Here you can see the author experimenting with themes he would later fully realize in novel form. They aren't all masterpieces, and Clarke would be the first to tell you.
Make a few inches of space on your shelf for this one. This large collection is a real treasure, perhaps the best way to really get to know Arthur C. Clarke as a writer and a ...more
In addition to the stories are brief notes from Clarke himself framing the work. Here you can see the author experimenting with themes he would later fully realize in novel form. They aren't all masterpieces, and Clarke would be the first to tell you.
Make a few inches of space on your shelf for this one. This large collection is a real treasure, perhaps the best way to really get to know Arthur C. Clarke as a writer and a ...more
simply amazing. one of the best and definitive collections of some of the best writing ever seen. You can see how Clarke's writing matures with age over the decades, but I daresay I loved his earliest one's the best.
Stephen King recommended "esteemed" author as mentioned in Chapter 2 of the Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.
Clarke was able to predict scientific changes as well as social fascinating reading for many different reasons
For the most part I quiet enjoy this, however, there was one story or two that were boring, but most were quite good.
A devestating back-catalogue by the spiritual grandfather of science-fiction.
A fine collection of Arthur's works, well worth reading...
Some good fun in this. Some stories are lacking though.
I love short stories and these are some of my favorite.
Just re-read this collection. Simply awesome!
A must have for Clarke fans!
This massive omnibus contains every short story Mr. Clarke ever published and is a must read for anybody who considers themself a science fiction fan. Shoot, I consider it a must read for anybody, period. He's my alltime favorite author just because of these stories here. His novels are more hit and miss, some are awesome and some are not, but he was an undisputed short story master. Sometimes it seemed the fewer words he used the more story he told.
A real pleasure to read through 61 years of short stories from one of the Kings of Sci-Fi. Though the stories mostly came from 1934-61 and the book was missing pages 327-374 (not ripped out or anything like that, just not there from press), even so it was still an amazing read, and I highly recommend it (especially if you write, or are thinking about writing, sci-fi).
I really like this book. It contains old school science-fiction stories from 50 years ago. Its a totally different perspective from today's science. I stopped reading it because of distractions and eventually school. I would read it casually but its the size of an encyclopedia so I could not carry it around. Will read, promise.
A fine example of the pure mastery that was Arthur C Clarke. He left his mark on liturate with everyone of his stories and his spirit lives on through his life's work. Stimulating both scientists and dreamers, he has had and will always have a profound impact on the way we view the universe around (and under) us.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I really liked Clarke's "Childhood's End," so I thought I'd like this collection of Clarke's work. Wrong. He is a hard-core, technical sci-fi writer. From what I understand from my literature guru/friend, John, CE was a departure for Clarke. No wonder I couldn't get into his short stories.
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Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._C...
More about Arthur C. Clarke...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._C...
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