Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke
Discover more experiences as well as knowledge by reviewing guide qualified The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke This is an e-book that you are seeking, isn't it? That corrects. You have actually concerned the right website, after that. We constantly give you The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke as well as the most favourite books worldwide to download and took pleasure in reading. You might not neglect that visiting this set is a purpose or also by accidental.
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke
Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke
Why must wait for some days to get or receive the book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke that you purchase? Why need to you take it if you could get The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke the much faster one? You can locate the same book that you get right here. This is it the book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke that you could get straight after purchasing. This The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke is well known book worldwide, obviously many individuals will certainly try to possess it. Why don't you end up being the first? Still confused with the way?
Why need to be this book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke to review? You will never ever obtain the understanding as well as encounter without managing on your own there or trying by on your own to do it. Hence, reviewing this e-book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke is required. You could be fine and also proper adequate to get just how essential is reviewing this The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke Even you always check out by obligation, you could support yourself to have reading publication routine. It will be so beneficial and fun after that.
Yet, exactly how is the way to get this book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke Still confused? It does not matter. You can take pleasure in reviewing this book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke by on-line or soft file. Merely download guide The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke in the web link given to visit. You will certainly obtain this The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke by online. After downloading and install, you can save the soft documents in your computer system or gadget. So, it will reduce you to review this e-book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke in specific time or place. It may be not sure to enjoy reading this book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke, due to the fact that you have great deals of task. But, with this soft data, you can take pleasure in checking out in the extra time also in the spaces of your jobs in office.
Once again, reading habit will constantly offer helpful advantages for you. You could not have to spend often times to review guide The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke Simply reserved a number of times in our extra or downtimes while having dish or in your workplace to read. This The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke will show you brand-new thing that you could do now. It will help you to improve the high quality of your life. Occasion it is just an enjoyable e-book The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke, By Arthur C. Clarke, you could be happier and also a lot more fun to take pleasure in reading.
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 of a massive, definitive edition of his collected shorter works. From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre," through 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 work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God," this immense volume encapsulates one of the great SF careers of all time.
- Sales Rank: #181614 in Books
- Color: Black
- Brand: Clarke, Arthur C.
- Published on: 2002-01-14
- Released on: 2002-01-14
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.16" h x 1.73" w x 6.25" l,
- Binding: Paperback
- 976 pages
Amazon.com Review
Ancient Rome had its famed Five Good Emperors--Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, for those keeping track. And while science fiction might not have Edward Gibbons around to dole out similar, agreed-upon honors, everyone pretty much accepts the canonization of a few founding fathers: Asimov, Heinlein, Wells, and Bradbury all make the short list, as does--always--the venerable and venerated Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master and the winner of just about every SF award you care to mention.
So whether you're already familiar with his works or not (most notably Childhood's End and the Rama series), you certainly can't go wrong picking up this veritable brick of a collection--912 pages in all--as either primer or essential reference. Within you'll find virtually every short piece of fiction that Clarke has ever published, from 1937's endearingly twee (in retrospect) "Travel by Wire" to 1999's "Improving the Neighbourhood," the first sci-fi Nature ever published.
The Collected Stories is all short works (as short as 31 words in one case) and includes some of Clarke's best stories, including the lighthearted "Tales of the White Hart" and the momentous "The Star" and "The Nine Billion Names of God." --Paul Hughes
From Library Journal
Bringing together more than six decades of sf short stories that have helped to mold the genre, this collection of short fiction by Grandmaster Clarke serves as a definitive example of sf at its best. From such classic tales as "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Hammer of God" to lesser-known early tales and everything in between, this collection displays the author's fertile imagination and irrepressible enthusiasm for both good storytelling and impeccable science. With over 100 stories and nearly 1000 pages, this volume by the award-winning author of 2001: A Space Odyssey makes a fine addition to any library's short story or sf collection.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This may be the single-author sf collection of the decade, even though the decade has barely begun, for it contains all the shorter fiction by Sir Arthur C. Clarke that he wishes to preserve, and he is one of the authentic pioneers and shapers of sf in English. Although most of these stories date from between 1946 and 1970, seven earlier tales, rescued from what would now be called fanzines, extend coverage back to 1937, and a few snippets stretch it toward the present. At least two dozen stories bear titles that are household words among sf readers--"The Sentinel" (progenitor of the 2001 saga), "The Nine Billion Names of God," "The Songs of Distant Earth," etc., not to mention all of the whimsical Tales from the White Hart. The stories demonstrate Clarke's dazzling and unique combination of command of the language, scientific and other kinds of erudition, and inimitable wit. Add early-twentieth-century English philosopher-novelist Olaf Stapledon's influence, which Clarke freely acknowledges, and it is possible to feel that if the term sense of wonder didn't exist, it would have to be now to describe what Clarke's majestic narratives evoke. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Most helpful customer reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Incomplete but still definitive collection for everybody not indifferent to Arthur Clarke
By Alexander Arsov
Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories
Tor, Hardback, 2001
8vo. x+966 pp. Foreword by Arthur Clarke, June 2000 [ix-x].
First published thus, 2000.
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]
6. Whacky [1942]
7. Loophole [1946]
8. Rescue Party [1946]
9. Technical Error [1946]
10. Castaway [1947]
11. The Fires Within [1947]
12. Inheritance [1947]
13. Nightfall [1947, aka "The Curse"]
14. History Lesson [1949]
15. Transience [1949]
16. The Wall of Darkness [1949]
17. The Lion of Comarre [1949]
18. The Forgotten Enemy [1948]
19. Hide-and-Seek [1949]
20. Breaking Strain [1949]
21. Nemesis [1950]
22. Guardian Angel [1950]
23. Time's Arrow [1950]
24. A Walk in the Dark [1950]
25. Silence Please [1950]
26. Trouble with the Natives [1951]
27. The Road to the Sea [1951
28. The Sentinel [1951]
29. Holiday On the Moon [1951]**
30. Earthlight [1951]**
31. Second Dawn [1951]
32. Superiority [1951]
33. "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." [1951]
34. All The Time in the World [1952]
35. The Nine Billion Names of God [1953]
36. The Possessed [1953]
37. The Parasite [1953]
38. Jupiter Five [1953]
39. Encounter in the Dawn [1953]
40. The Other Tiger [1953]
41. Publicity Campaign [1953]
42. Armaments Race [1954]
43. The Deep Range [1955]
44. No Morning After [1954]
45. Big Game Hunt [1956]
46. Patent Pending [1954]
47. Refugee [1955]
48. The Star [1955]
49. What Goes Up [1956]
Venture to the Moon [1956]
50. The Starting Line
51. Robin Hood, F.R.S.
52. Green Fingers
53. All that Glitters
54. Watch this Space
55. A Question of Residence
56. The Pacifist [1956]
57. The Reluctant Orchid [1956]
58. Moving Spirit [1957]
59. The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch [1957]
60. The Ultimate Melody [1957]
61. The Next Tenants [1957]
62. Cold War [1957]
63. Sleeping Beauty [1957]
64. Security Check [1956]
65. The Man Who Ploughed the Sea [1957]
66. Critical Mass [1949]
The Other Side of the Sky [1957]
67. Special Delivery
68. Feathered Friend
69. Take a Deep Breath
70. Freedom of Space
71. Passer-by
72. The Call of the Stars
73. Let There Be Light [1957]
74. Out of the Sun [1958]
75. Cosmic Casanova [1958]
76. The Songs of Distant Earth [1958]
77. A Slight Case of Sunstroke [1958]
78. Who's There? [1958]
79. Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting... [1959]
80. I Remember Babylon [1960]
81. Trouble with Time [1960]
82. Into the Comet [1960]
83. Summertime on Icarus [1960]
84. Saturn Rising [1961]
85. Death and the Senator [1961]
86. Before Eden [1961]
87. Hate [1961]
88. Love That Universe [1961]
89. Dog Star [1962]
90. Maelstrom II [1965]
91. An Ape About the House [1962]
92. The Shining Ones [1962]
93. The Secret [1963]
94. Dial F for Frankenstein [1965]
95. The Wind from the Sun [1964]
96. The Food of the Gods [1964]
97. The Last Command [1965]
98. The Light of Darkness [1966]
99. The Longest Science-fiction Story Ever Told [1966]
100. Playback [1966]
101. The Cruel Sky [1967]
102. Herbert George Morley Roberts Wells, Esq. [1967]
103. Crusade [1968]
104. Neutron Tide [1970]
105. Reunion [1971]
106. Transit of Earth [1971]
107. A Meeting with Medusa [1971]
108. Quarantine [1977]
109. siseneG [1984]
110. The Steam-powered Word Processor [1986]***
111. On Golden Seas [1986]
112. The Hammer of God [1992]**
113. The Wire Continuum (with Stephen Baxter) [1998]**
114. Improving the Neighbourhood [1999]**
* In square brackets: the year of first publication, usually in magazine.
** Apparently first appearance at all, or at least first appearance in book form.
*** The only appearance of this piece in book form before seems to have been in the collections of essays Astounding Days (1989) and Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (1999).
================================================='
Let's start with the surest way to be excruciatingly dull: bibliographical details. Indeed, this review will consist mostly of such stuff. Whatever I have to say about the short stories themselves, I have said it (or will say it) in the reviews of the separate collections.
This book includes exactly 114 pieces of short fiction that span the truly impressive 62 years (1937-99). The collection is not complete and it does not contain every single piece of short fiction Arthur Clarke ever wrote, but the omissions are negligible. More of them later.
Between 1953 and 1972, his most productive years in the genre, Arthur Clarke published six short story collections comprised of pieces that had appeared in various magazines and anthologies fairly shortly before. These contain altogether 95 short stories distributed as follows:
Expedition to Earth (1953, 11 stories)
Reach for Tomorrow (1956, 12)
Tales from the White Hart (1957, 15)
The Other Side of the Sky (1958, 24)
Tales of Ten Worlds (1962, 15)
The Wind from the Sun (1972, 18)
[Of course the list above omits collections such as The Nine Billion Names of God (1967) and Of Time and Stars (1972) for the simple reason that they only reprinted stories that had previously appeared in other of Clarke's collections.]
All of these 95 pieces are included in The Collected Stories. Please note that there are some alternative titles which are highly misleading. For instance, ''The Curse'', originally published under this title in Reach for Tomorrow, appears here as ''Nightfall''. I may mention in passing that, for the sake of clarity, I omit any references to magazines and anthologies, regarding Clarke's own collections as the definitive source for his stories.
Four other collections must be mentioned. They were published between 1973 and 1989 and consist almost - but not quite - of previously published stuff. The exceptions are marked as "new" (note the quotation marks) because almost always they were written a good deal earlier. Altogether there are 12 such stories which are of interest for the present discussion:
The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1971 (1973, 4 "new" stories)
The Sentinel(1983, 2)
The Wind from the Sun (1987 edition, 3)
Tales from Planet Earth(1989, 3)
Of these 12 "latecomers", 10 are reprinted in The Collected Stories. The exceptions - again - are no big loss. One is a movie outline of "The Songs of Distant Earth" (from The Sentinel), which looks much better as a short story which is of course included here, and the other is a short sketch titled "When the Twerms Came", which originally appeared in Clarke's non-fiction book The View from Serendip (1978) and was later reprinted in the 1987 edition of The Wind from the Sun.
Doing some elementary maths shows that 105 of the stories included in The Collected Stories have previously appeared in no fewer than 10 different collections with Clarke's short fiction, yet the latter contained but two relatively insignificant pieces not included here. To cut the long story short, this collection is not complete, but it definitely deserves the strong adjective "definitive".
For the rest nine pieces this edition seems to be the first appearance in book form, or at least in a book by Arthur Clarke alone. Of course there are exceptions here, too. The novella "The Lion of Comarre", though published in anthology as early as 1949, appeared in Clarke's book only in 1968, coupled with "Against the Fall of Night" (1948), which was later to become the novel The City and the Stars; since the earlier piece is more like a novel, it is rightly not included here. The other exception is "The Steam-powered Word Processor" which had previously appeared in the magnificent collection of Clarke's non-fiction writings Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (1999) and in his science fictional autobiography Astounding Days (1989), but not in anything that can safely be called short story collection. This is just another reminder that the border line between fiction and non-fiction in Clarke's oeuvre is not always straight and easy to distinguish. One may just as well regret that "Report on Planet Three", "So, You're Going to Mars?" and "Vacation in Vacuum" are not included here, either. They all can be found both in two excellent collections of essays: Report on Planet Three (1972) and The Challenge of the Spaceship (1959).
(Having mentioned ''Against the Fall of Night'', it is worth noting that The Locus Index to Science Fiction for 2001 gives the names of two other pieces of short fiction by Clarke, in addition to those already mentioned, that have been omitted in the present collection: ''At the Mountains of Murkiness'' (1940) and ''Tales from the 'White Hart'' (1990): The Jet-Propelled Time Machine'' (1990). Anyway, even when these are taken into account, the omissions remain negligible.)
So far as can be ascertained online, the rest seven pieces (marked with ** above) have never previously appeared in any book of Clarke, even though only three of them seem never to have been printed at all ("How We Went to Mars", "Reverie" and "Holiday on the Moon"). At any rate, it is nice to have these stories here. Some of them are of interest because they later became novels ("The Hammer of God") and some because of their historical importance. "Improving the Neighbourhood" had the honour to be the first science fiction published - at least intentionally - by the (perhaps a trifle too) august Nature magazine; it also was Clarke's last story as he was nearly 82 years old at the time of writing. Actually it is no story at all, for it is much more like a sketch for one, but it shows yet again that Clarke could, and did, say something interesting even in his slightest pieces.
The edition itself is handsomely produced and rather convenient for its mammoth size; of course you should avoid paperback editions because they, inevitably, are difficult to handle when the page count chases the 1000-mark. The editorial work, however, is a trifle mediocre. Almost every story has a pithy prefatory note by Clarke that is well worth reading, and his Foreword is welcome too. But each story also has another note, printed under the title, which is supposed to give some bibliographical information. Unfortunately, most of these "notes" are highly repetitive with Clarke's and, worse, they sometimes give incomplete or misleading information about the publication history.
Of course the collection - spanning 62 years of writing, if I may remind you - is uneven, but those who degrade it for that reason alone are missing the point completely. Clarke's very early stories, namely those written up to 1946, are certainly not on the level of the later ones, but they are firmly in the minority - and "Travel By Wire" is not a bad achievement for a lad of twenty, don't you think? The quarter of a century between 1946 and 1971 represents Arthur Clarke at the peak of his formidable powers as a short story writer. The staggering 101 pieces resulted, four a year on the average, and the most important thing about them is not that they are uneven, as this is inevitable, but that Clarke is uncommonly often at his best.
Clarke's stupendous range of forms, moods and techniques is another thing to savour while perusing this volume. He wrote everything from half-page bad jokes ("The Longest Science-fiction Story Ever Told") to thought-provoking novellas of considerable length ("The Songs from Distant Earth", "Guardian Angel"). He is often accused of being too dry or too scientific. Neither could be further from the truth. Even Clarke's most technical stories, containing a great deal of popular science, such as "Technical Error", "Out of the Sun", "The Fires Within" of "A Meeting with Medusa", offer a lot more than mere technical stuff. The popular accusation of lack of characterization is all moonshine as well; "The Parasite", "A Walk in the Dark" and "Breaking Strain", to name just three, are there to prove it. And when we are talking about mind-blowing experience that stretch one's imagination beyond time and space, Clarke can at best be equaled, but I don't really think he could be surpassed. Examples here are numerous, some of the most famous ("The Sentinel", "The Star") will do very nicely. Last but not least, when he wants to, Clarke can be perfectly and deliciously hilarious. "Trouble with the Natives", "Loophole" or most of the "Tales from the White Hart" are uproarious fun to read.
There's no need to elaborate further. Here's the bottom line. If you are a Clarke aficionado, The Collected Stories is a must for your shelves, repetitions and all. If you have never read anything by Clarke, you could hardly do better than this volume. It may prove to be the beginning of a quest that will last for the rest of your life, or it may convince you that this is guy is not really worth reading: the choice is yours. If you, for some strange reason, are familiar with Clarke's novels and/or essays, but have no idea of his short stories, you certainly cannot do better than to grab this volume.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A Wonderful Near Comprehensive Collection
By Dave_42
Sir Arthur C. Clarke (December 16, 1917 - March 19, 2008) was one of the masters of Science Fiction. For over 50 years he wrote stories which amazed and delighted readers, and this collection helps bring together his short fiction in one place for fans to enjoy. Early editions of this collection were fraught with error, and so it has developed a poor reputation. From what I can tell, though, these problems have been corrected, and this is now a great collection for those who want to experience not only his greatest works, but also those which are not so great. You can see his development as a writer within these pages.
The quality of Clarke's work varies quite a bit from the earlier fanzine stories to his excellent work later on, which results in the overall collection having variable strength. There also appear to be some stories omitted, which makes this less than a complete collection, though certainly most of his works are here. You will certainly find great works such as "The Nine Billion Names of God", "The Sentinel", "The Star", "A Meeting with Medusa", and others, but for me those works are already easily found elsewhere, and the interest in this work was being able to read some of his rarer works, even if they weren't his greatest stories.
I can easily see why some would give this work less than five stars, especially if they had an earlier edition which had so many spelling errors and other mistakes in it. However, for me, it rates five stars because of the near comprehensive look at the short fiction from one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
the collected stories of arthur c clarke
By Marquita E. O'riley
I got my copy in the spring of this year 2008. I love the book. Arthur Clarke is a wonderful storyteller His knowledge and inmagination in the field of science /fiction is great The stories are interesting, funny and suspenceful. They will make you think and let your imagination fill in the blanks. I have given 3 copies as gifts to my son and two brothers and they also like the book very much. I also like that they are short stories so that I can read and finish a story quickly.
See all 64 customer reviews...
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke PDF
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke EPub
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Doc
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke iBooks
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke rtf
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Mobipocket
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Kindle
^ Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Doc
^ Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Doc
^ Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Doc
^ Download PDF The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, by Arthur C. Clarke Doc
