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Books : Science Fiction & Fantasy : Authors, A-Z : C : Clarke, Arthur C. : General AAS
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When an enigmatic monolith is found buried on the moon, scientists are amazed to discover that it's at least 3 million years old. Even more amazing, after it's unearthed the artefact releases a powerful signal aimed at Saturn. What sort of alarm has been triggered? To find out, a manned spacecraft, the Discovery, is sent to investigate. Its crew is highly trained--the best--and they are assisted by a self- aware computer, the ultra-capable HAL 9000. But HAL's programming has been patterned after the human mind a little too well. He is capable of guilt, neurosis, even murder, and he controls every single one of Discovery's components. The crew must overthrow this digital psychotic if they hope to make their rendezvous with the entities that are responsible not just for the monolith, but maybe even for human civilization.Clarke wrote this novel while Stanley Kubrick created the film, the two collaborating on both projects. The novel is much more detailed and intimate, and definitely easier to comprehend. Even though history has disproved its "predictions", it's still loaded with exciting and awe-inspiring science fiction. -- Brooks Peck
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Then it came close enough for visual inspection.
"Goliath here", Chandler radioed Earthwards, his voice tinged with pride as well as solemnity. "We're bringing aboard a 1000-year-old astronaut. And I can guess who it is. "
Thus after drifting to an icy death in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the body of astronaut Frank Poole is recovered in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Preserved at near absolute zero, it is a simple task for medical science a millennium hence to restore Poole to life--though strangely for a novel which pits religion against science, the metaphysical implications of technological resurrection are unexamined --and the first half is devoted to Poole's integration into the society of the future. If anything he adjusts with far too little grief or culture shock: apart from mourning his dog, and learning how the new technology works, he faces no major difficulties. Still, the world of the future is drawn with broad, imaginative strokes and apart from a persistent continuity error which makes Poole 6 years old in 2001, this is fascinating stuff. The plot kicks into gear with the revelation that the famous black monoliths may ultimately not have humanity's interests at heart, leading to a perfunctorily presented struggle for survival. Clarke himself notes that the ending is functionally identical to that of Independence Day, though novel and film were created simultaneously. Not the hoped-for late classic, 3001: the Final Odyssey does provide the satisfaction of closure to Clarke's epic Odyssey Quartet.--Gary S. Dalkin
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Here is a book that does exactly what it says, presents completely and in chronological order The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke. From Travel By Wire (1937) to Improving the Neighbourhood (1999), 104 stories fill this 966 page monolith of great science fiction. There is a forward by Clarke, first publication and collection details are noted, and most of the stories have a short introduction by their author.Previously uncollected tales range from How We Went to Mars (1938) to The Wire Continuum (1997), cowritten by Stephen Baxter with whom Clarke collaborated on The Light of Other Days (2000). There are ingenious jokes such as Quarantine, displaying a sense of humour which will surprise those who think of Clarke only as the sober visionary behind 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Here too are The Sentinel and Breaking Strain, both of which provided inspiration for that film, together with such unforgettably haunting classics as The Nine Billion Names of God, Transience and The Star. Indeed, for a man considered the prophet of the modern technological age, coupled with all the scientific ingenuity and adventure there is a deep thread of essentially English melancholy, a love of nature and a lucid sense of cosmic sadness to Clarke's finest interplanetary tales. This is not just a perfect companion to the author's massive collection of non-fiction, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!, but an essential addition to every reader's library. Clarke's best stories are among the finest ever written in any genre, now collected in an anthology as definitive as it is possible to get.--Gary S Dalkin
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Originally The Fountains of Paradise was intended to be Arthur C. Clarke's last novel, before the author came out of "retirement" to pen 2010: Odyssey Two. It is also one of his best, and being set in a fictionalised version of Clarke's adopted home of Sri Lanka, one of his most personal. The story is based around the fantastical yet scientifically supportable idea of a "Space Elevator", a "tower" from the earth to geo-stationary orbit, 23 000 miles "high". The purpose is to make access to space routine, safe and cheap, and the 22nd century-set novel essentially follows Vannevar Morgan in his quest to complete this monumental project.There are grand set-pieces worthy of the best adventure story, a generous scattering of fascinating speculations and observations and, of course, Clarke's famous eye for the epic vistas inherent in large-scale science fiction:
Slowly his eyes adapted, and in the depths of the mirror a faint red glow began to burn, and spread, and consume the stars. It grew brighter and brighter and flowed beyond the limits of the mirror; now he could see directly, for it extended halfway down the sky. A cage of light, with flickering, moving bars, was descending upon the earth.
As much the novel of a poet as that of a scientist, The Fountains of Paradise makes striking use of the sometimes haunting history of Sri Lanka, a device echoed by Kathleen Ann Goonan in her Hawaiian set novel, The Bones of Time. Anyone seriously interested in great science fiction should really have both these books in their collection. --Gary S. Dalkin
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This version of The Sentinel is subtitled the 2001 Anniversary Edition, and to be pedantic one might ask, what anniversary? Rather more accurately, this is an edition for the intersection of the calendar with SF history, the most memorable date in fiction since 1984. "The Sentinel" is a short story, written in 1948 and only 11 pages long, renowned for providing a starting point for the greatest science fiction film ever made, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey:So they left a sentinel, one of millions they have scattered throughout the Universe, watching over all the worlds with a promise of life.
There are eight other stories, each introduced by the author, who also contributes a substantial forward. The tales, illustrated with 11 excellent full-page black and white drawings by Lebbus Woods, span the length of Clarke's career as a professional short story writer, from 1945's "Rescue Party" to 1971's Nebula Award-winning "A Meeting With Medusa". This story forms a bridge of sorts between 2001 and 2010: Odyssey Two, which was as Clarke writes, "in some ways ... also a sequel to this story". As a wonder-filled tale of a meeting with the truly alien in the clouds of Jupiter it is unsurpassed. The book concludes with the original outline for a possible second SF film with Stanley Kubrick. The film wasn't made, but the outline became one of Clarke's most beautiful novels, The Songs of Distant Earth. This is essential reading, though dedicated fans will probably opt for the complete Collected Stories. --Gary S. Dalkin
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