The Best Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke #6

by Arthur C. Clarke, Maxwell Caulfield, Emily Woof (Reading)

From early stories like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre," to classics like "The Star," "Earthlight," "The Nine Billion Names of God," and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel, and movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later works like "A Meeting With Medusa" and "The Hammer of God," this volume encapsulates one of the great SF careers of all time.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

10 pages, Audio CD

First published August 9, 2001

About the author

Stories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.

He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Reviews

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me most of the year, just picking away at this, but wow, what a ride. Arthur C. Clarke is, indeed, one of the great scifi writers of all time.

Of note are many of these (the collection is almost 1,000 pages!), but I'd like to highlight two.

1. "The Cruel Sky." Made me laugh out loud when the poor Himalayan snow leopard accidentally discovers the anti-gravity packs and sends itself into orbit, thus facilitating the rescue of the owners of the anti-gravity packs by back-tracking the leopard's trajectory.

2. "The Star." Clarke at his best. Deals with heady issues of religion, hard science, faith, and in a near-perfect way that leaves you just pondering and processing its haunting final line.

And of course, honorable mention to "The Sentinel," which, of course, became the inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The highest honor I can give a book is to buy it, because I know that I will return to it again and again. This book is now on my amazon wishlist.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost by definition an anthology is both good in parts, and not-so-good in other parts. This collection is no different. Even though it is supposed to be a curated collection from the complete short stories collection, some of them should not have made the cut. Some of them were great, others suffered from an almost monotonic narration style that did not really sit well with me.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I have previously noted I really enjoy anthologies of science fiction. This is another one I picked up over the holidays and totally enjoyed. Clearly some stories are far better than others, but as a collection I consider it exceptional and hence a 5 star rating. This is an author who was also a legitimate scientist and this informs his works more often than not.

[Mcbemused · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely dated and not always well-thought-out.

[Gordon Taggart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection is ACC's shirt stories. Enjoyable reading, it is true to say theat they don't make them the way they used to. Clever stories rather than whizzy stories.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, hard sf. Clarke's vision of the future is engineer-centric and funny. It's still worth a read.

[Wingman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur C. Clark of 2001 fame has been one of my favorite SF writers of all time.

[Hans Brakob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection has it all. A must for any fan.