Listing books by Arthur C. Clarke
| Full title | Childhood's End [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Publication year | 2010 |
| Original publication year | 1954 |
| ISBN | 978-0-330-51401-9 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 256 |
| Synopsis | The novel starts abruptly with two scenes of American and Russian astronauts preparing to embark on their different (irrelevant) missions, only to be halted by the sudden appearance of starships above major cities of the Earth. It's explained in short order how these benevolent aliens manage, in only a few years, to clean up our mess. War, disease, and want are all things of the past, and humanity now lives in peace with itself. Eventually the aliens make themselves and their plans known... |
| Review | This novel is considered by many Clarke fans to be his best (even Clarke himself considered it that, along with The Songs of Distant Earth), and I'll have to tentatively agree (the final verdict will have to wait until I've read more of Clarke's work). The story is engaging and spans many decades, the characters are interesting, the aliens' motives understandable (and even sympathetic), the pacing is good... The only complaint I have is that I wished it was longer. It feels like there should be more to this story! Definitely go pick this up! |
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| Full title | The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
| Publication year | 2001 |
| ISBN | 978-1-85798-323-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 966 |
| Synopsis | A collection of virtually every short story of Arthur C. Clarke. See Structure for links to some of them. |
| Review | The stories are of varying quality, although most are very good (and some are truly excellent). As this is a compilation, it's hard to give a verdict, but I definitely recommend it to you if you're a Clarke fan. |
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| Full title | Cradle [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee |
| Publisher | Orbit Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Publication year | 1989 |
| Original publication year | 1988 |
| ISBN | 0-7088-4318-2 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 374 |
| Synopsis | This novel primarily follows three people: Carol Dawson, a journalist for the Miami Herald; Nick Williams, a diver, adventurer, and boat owner; and his partner, Troy Williams. Carol, interested in a curious incident of a beached whale and a rumour about a submerged Navy missile, decides to enlist the help of Nick and Troy. |
| Review | Unfortunately, this novel isn't so much science fiction as thriller and drama, which was a little disappointing. It would make a good movie I think, but as a novel the story isn't driven forward as it should, there is too much characterization (without meaning), and the ending fell absolutely flat for me. You can safely skip this one. |
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| Full title | Discoveries [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Alan Lothian (introduction), Arthur C. Clarke, Bob Shaw, Greg Bear, Ian McDonald, Ian Watson, Mike McQuay, Paul J. McAuley, Robert Holdstock and Tricia Sullivan |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
| Publication year | 1995 |
| ISBN | 0-575-06258-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 190 |
| Synopsis | I can't remember where I got this book, but I reckon it's pretty rare to come across as it's not normally sold, but was given away free with the October 1995 issue of BBC Focus. It's an anthology of short science fiction stories from budding British authors. |
| Review | A few of the stories fell flat, but some are good (I really enjoyed Blood Music). If you happen to come across it, you might want to buy it, if only for its rarity. |
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| Full title | Expedition to Earth [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
| Publication year | 1982 |
| Original publication year | 1953 |
| ISBN | 0-345-31057-8 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 165 |
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| Full title | Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Groff Conklin (editor), Isaac Asimov (editor), A. E. van Vogt, Alan Bloch, Alan E. Nourse, Alan Nelson, Albert Hernhuter, Anthony Boucher, Arthur C. Clarke, Arthur Feldman, Arthur Porges, Avro Manhattan, C. M. Kornbluth, Cleve Cartmill, Damon Knight, David Grinnell, Edward G. Robles, Edward Grendon, Eric Frank Russell, Evelyn E. Smith, Frank M. Robinson, Fredric Brown, Fritz Leiber, H. B. Hickey, Howard Schoenfeld, Idris Seabright, Jack Finney, James Causey, James H. Schmitz, John D. MacDonald, John Lewis, John P. McKnight, Karen Anderson, Lion Miller, Mack Reynolds, Marion Gross, Mildred Clingerman, Peter Cartur, Poul Anderson, Ralph Williams, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, Roger Dee, S. Fowler Wright, Stuart Friedman, T. P. Caravan, Theodore Sturgeon, W. Hilton-Young, Walt Sheldon, Will Stanton, William Tenn and Winston K. Marks |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Categories | Anthology, science fiction and short stories |
| Publication year | 1963 |
| ISBN | 0-684-84296-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 287 |
| Synopsis | Fifty short-short stories from fifty different authors are collected here. |
| Review | Almost all of the stories are truly excellent, and I have transcribed some of the best ones and put them on my Short Stories page (Men Are Different, Texas Week, The Haunted Space Suit, and Counter Charm). Go there for a sample before you buy the book. (You will buy it, remember.) |
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| Full title | Imperial Earth [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Vista |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Publication year | 1997 |
| Original publication year | 1975 |
| ISBN | 0-575-60158-2 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 287 |
| Synopsis | The year is 2276, and the furthest world colonized by mankind is Titan, the largest moon of Saturn (and one of the largest in the Solar System). Titan is home to a quarter of a million people, selected for intelligence, endurance, and any other characteristic necessary for such a mission. Among them is a powerful political trio, Malcolm Makenzie (the "grandfather"), Colin Makenzie (the "father"), and Duncan Makenzie (the "son"), Colin being a clone of Malcolm, and Duncan in turn being a clone of Colin. Duncan is sent as an emissary to Earth for the fourth Centennial of the United States. The bulk of the novel follows Duncan on his adventures on Earth. |
| Review | A good novel, but not excellent; the end of the book doesn't tie up enough loose ends, and the book is more about politics than science fiction. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I felt sort of cheated. I'll still recommend it. There's a wonderful scene where Duncan's grandmother presents him with a set of pentominoes made of Titanite (a crystal native to Titan) and a ten-by-six box into which to fit the pieces (see the Wikipedia article for solutions). |
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I — TITAN
II — TRANSIT
III — TERRA
IV — TITAN
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| Full title | The Songs of Distant Earth [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Publication year | 1998 |
| Original publication year | 1986 |
| ISBN | 0-586-06623-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 238 |
| Synopsis | The Earth is swallowed in the explosion of the Sun in the year 3620, and the novel begins with the landing of the starship Magellan on the now-colonized planet of Thalassa, a world covered almost entirely in ocean except for three closely linked islands. They need to repair their ship for their upcoming journey to their real destination, a planet called Sagan 2, which, with their millions of colonists in cryo-sleep, they hope to colonize. Almost the entirety of the novel takes place on Thalassa. |
| Review | A very beautiful novel full of memorable scenes. (The lifting of the kilometer-wide hexagonal ice blocks for the ship's shield comes to mind.) The pacing is good, the characters are well-developed, and the writing is excellent (but then again, this is a Clarke novel). |
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I THALASSA
II MAGELLAN
III SOUTH ISLAND
IV KRAKAN
V THE BOUNTY SYNDROME
VI THE FORESTS OF THE SEA
VII AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARD
VIII THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH
IX SAGAN 2
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| Full title | Rendezvous with Rama [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Rama (1/4) |
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Original publication year | 1972 |
| ISBN | 0-553-28789-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 243 |
| Synopsis | A large cylindrical object is spinning so fast through the solar system that humans want to take a look at it before it whizzes past them. They dispatch the Endeavour to intersect its orbit and quickly discover that the cylinder is a spaceship of some kind designed by an intelligent species. Once they make it aboard Rama, the crew meticulously describe the interior of it and you should eventually get a really good feel for its construction. The novel details the crew's discoveries aboard Rama. |
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| Full title | Rama II [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Arthur C. Clarke (author) and Gentry Lee (co-author) |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Rama (2/4) |
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Original publication year | 1989 |
| ISBN | 0-553-28658-7 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 466 |
| Synopsis | Seventy years after the first book, a second Rama spacecraft enters our solar system, and an expedition is again sent to rendezvous with it. They board it as easily as the first crew boarded the first spacecraft, but they soon discover a few differences between the two craft. |
| Review | This book (and the subsequent ones) contains a lot character development, as they are written primarily by Lee. In this one, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but it takes off eventually, really. |
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| Full title | The Garden of Rama [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Arthur C. Clarke (author) and Gentry Lee (co-author) |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Rama (3/4) |
| Publication year | 1992 |
| Original publication year | 1991 |
| ISBN | 0-553-29817-8 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 518 |
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| Full title | Rama Revealed: The Ultimate Encounter [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Authors | Arthur C. Clarke (author) and Gentry Lee (co-author) |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Rama (4/4) |
| Publication year | 1995 |
| Original publication year | 1994 |
| ISBN | 0-553-56947-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 602 |
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| Full title | The City and the Stars [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | SF Masterworks |
| Publication year | 2001 |
| Original publication year | 1956 |
| ISBN | 978-1-857-98763-8 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 255 |
| Synopsis | The story takes place on Earth several billion years in the future. It revolves around the huge city of Diaspar, which has cloistered itself under an artificial roof. No one can leave the city, and no one even wants to. People are no longer born naturally, but emerge from the Hall of Creation. They live for centuries, and when they decide it's time to "die" they simply choose which memories they wish to keep, and are then stored in the Memory Banks, to return centuries later from the Hall of Creation. These Memory Banks also house the patterns for everything in the city (buildings, furniture, what have you) so that when one wishes something (a chair, for instance), one simply asks for it and it will materialize. As a by-product, nothing ever wears down; the city (and its inhabitants) are practically immortal. Into this mix emerges Alvin, a Unique (meaning it's his first life). These aren't unheard of, but they're very rare. The story is really about Alvin and his adventures to unravel the secrets of the city's (and Earth's) mysterious and myth-laden past. |
| Review | I thorougly enjoyed it. If I have one complaint it's that I wish we learned more about the Invaders, but this doesn't detract from the story (for reasons which I won't go into due to the spoiler potential). |
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| Full title | A Fall of Moondust [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | SF Masterworks |
| Publication year | 2002 |
| Original publication year | 1961 |
| ISBN | 978-0-575-07317-3 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 224 |
| Synopsis | It's the near future, and the Moon is a place for tourism. The novel opens with Pat Harris, skipper of the boat Selene, enjoying a cruise with his two-dozen-or-so passengers across the (fictional) Sea of Thirst. At the time of the novel's writing in 1960 it was reasonably assumed that the so-called "seas" of the Moon consisted of very fine dust. Selene, therefore, was imagined as a ship capable of crossing these seas. However, like an ant falling into an antlion's trap (the analogy is one of the character's), Selene sinks into the Sea of Thirst, and the rest of the novel is concerned with, alternately, the people aboard, the search party above, and the various other interested parties (TV crews, overseers, and what have you). |
| Review | An immensely gripping novel! To call it science fiction is technically correct, but the SF serves merely as the backdrop for the human drama. And what a drama it is! Go pick this up! |
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| Full title | 2001: A Space Odyssey [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Roc Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Space Odyssey (1/4) |
| Publication year | 2000 |
| Original publication year | 1968 |
| ISBN | 0-451-45799-4 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 297 |
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| Full title | 2010: Odyssey Two [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Space Odyssey (2/4) |
| Publication year | 1984 |
| Original publication year | 1982 |
| ISBN | 0-345-30306-7 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 335 |
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| Full title | 2061: Odyssey Three [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Space Odyssey (3/4) |
| Publication year | 1989 |
| Original publication year | 1988 |
| ISBN | 0-345-35879-1 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 271 |
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| Full title | 3001: The Final Odyssey [permalink] |
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| Language | English |
| Author | Arthur C. Clarke (author) |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Categories | Novel and science fiction |
| Series | Space Odyssey (4/4) |
| Publication year | 1998 |
| Original publication year | 1997 |
| ISBN | 0-345-42349-6 [Amazon, B&N, Abe, Powell's] |
| Pages | 274 |
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