tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55251809693588593462025-03-29T06:52:32.648+05:30Story guides, ratings, & reviewsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-16734509189784233312008-03-20T01:51:00.004+05:302008-04-09T19:03:01.469+05:30

and if you haven't read him extensively, this note on his best stories might be helpful.Or begin with one of these lists: short stories, novels, collections.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-36463629416124604022007-08-26T12:02:00.000+05:302007-11-14T21:35:24.640+05:30

I have resumed posting on Clarke's stories again, but at Variety SF - one or two posts a week. Any lists maintained here will get appropriate entry and link. But all new content will go there.Reasons have to do with my maintenance effort. Sorry, if this causes any confusion.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-45746328113935257672007-07-03T01:41:00.000+05:302007-08-08T02:11:51.204+05:30

By now, I have covered some three quarters of Clarke's novels, & some 40% of his short stories here. I haven't read another author in may be 3 months now. It gets boring after a while. So, I am taking a sabbatical.I will, hopefully, return in a few months to finish this unfinished project. Even though it has served its original purpose - giving me an idea of what blogging is about.In the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-88456869305250255462007-07-03T01:35:00.000+05:302008-01-20T11:29:16.807+05:30

This supposedly non-fiction book about the writing of the novel "2001 A Space Odyssey" actually has not only a lot of material on the making of the movie of the same name, but includes some stories too.While I have read just about the first quarter of this book, even that part contains two stories:"The Sentinel"."First Encounter": A marriage of "Encounter at Down" & the first story in "2001 A

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-28113964324383096422007-06-23T11:45:00.003+05:302008-06-28T19:03:22.518+05:30

Here is the complete list of all the 66 stories in this collection:"I Remember Babylon" (C); Playboy, March 1960: Dated cold war story - Soviets have got a new propaganda medium. "Summertime on Icarus" aka "The Hottest Piece of Real Estate in the Solar System" (A); Vogue, June 1960: Shipwreck & rescue on an asteroid currently rather close to Sun."Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting""Who’s

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-13697951335926696422007-06-23T11:16:00.002+05:302009-12-13T00:22:36.760+05:30

Note there is a short story called "The Sentinel", too (also included in this collection). Here is the complete list of all the 10 stories in this collection:"Rescue Party", Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1946: Clarke's first published story; also see note on "first published" near the end of my review article. And a smaller version of "The Songs of Distant Earth" (novel); but Songs (novel)

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-18309492548356261362007-06-23T10:33:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:39:07.294+05:30

This book includes 2 novels & 18 short stories:"The Sentinel"; Written "over Christmas 1948 for a BBC competition", & originally published in 10 Story Fantasy, spring 1951, under the title "Sentinel of Eternity": Aliens watching the development of intelligent life on earth have left a beacon on moon. "This is the starting point of 2001: A Space Odyssey", according to Clarke's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-54030581007808325772007-06-22T00:26:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:12:55.403+05:30

This is not a story by Clarke. But by Paul Preuss, probably under some kind of royalty agreement with Clarke.This also is not the expansion of a short story into novel length in the sense that "Rescue Party" was transformed into "The Songs of Distant Earth" - that requires hard work. This is simply an attachment of a kind of preamble & postscript to original "Breaking Strain". Preamble takes

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-91170833022585379982007-06-16T00:33:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:10:53.420+05:30

This story is essentially an advocacy for gun control in the US. On me, it had the opposite effect - making an argument that private ownership of guns should be legal everywhere! A look at India's history during the last millennium suggests that the governments that put severe limits on local private access to weapons tend to be utterly impotent against external aggressors.Tone is generally

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-23032836137549758212007-06-08T23:24:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:10:02.933+05:30

This is easily among the worst novels I have ever read. And not just by Clarke, or in English.Almost every para is a jargon-filled garble. One of the most unreadable & tedious books, & without any kind of coherent story.I forced myself to read first 20% without skipping anything. Then began skipping paras, later pages. There is a whole lot of pages I skipped, but I am completely sure I

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-83036657158304636082007-06-06T22:39:00.001+05:302008-01-11T00:09:03.332+05:30

Very readable space adventure, but with a somewhat filmy presentation.Story summary (spoiler).This story is set in the mid twenty first century (or is it late twenty first - I forget). Told mostly in first person, it describes the adventures of a young man in near earth space & on a trip around moon - over a period spanning a few weeks.Main protagonist, Roy Malcolm, wins an all-expenses-paid

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-17094195377873409782007-06-06T22:39:00.000+05:302007-06-09T01:22:26.957+05:30

With 20 novels & 41 short stories of Clarke read & reviewed by now, I guess I now have some insight into the commonly found story elements. This is an attempt to document the most visible features of his stories.1. If you are looking for focused novels that deal with one subject or plot really well, Clarke is the wrong author to read; go elsewhere.Most of his novels have a main plot element,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-15276418956658353032007-06-01T01:40:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:08:29.216+05:30

On the face of it, this story is about an unsuccessful attempt to salvage the wreck of Titanic, the well-documented passenger ship that sank on its maiden cross-Atlantic voyage early in twentieth century. But that is just the facade.Real story is about technology & business issues involved in deep sea salvage operations. With some human interest elements. And many unrelated tangent

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-32590287741524456422007-05-29T22:21:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:07:53.321+05:30

First half of this book is outstanding; next quarter is good; last quarter is positively lousy, & completely unrelated to rest of the story.The most irritating thing I find in all Clarkian novels - the tendency to spend a lot of time on threads totally unrelated to main story - is here in full glory. In spite of this, I have no hesitation in calling the first half the best among all Clarkian

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-81454252493025136852007-05-28T10:02:00.001+05:302008-04-09T19:09:29.813+05:30

Introducing this site, & yours truly - even if belatedly.Yes, I look at it as a normal website - implemented as a blog, because it is the least hasslesome way to put together a website. It certainly won't pay to read it as a diary.1. What is this site about?This site is about Arthur Clarke's stories - both short & long. It is not about his photos, videos, biography, quotes, general links,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-90864936191215903352007-05-25T08:46:00.000+05:302007-05-25T10:01:19.233+05:30

An admirer who wrote this comment emailed the medal displayed alongside. Since this is the first award for this site, I thought it deserves a post of its own. Wish me luck. And more awards.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-32126182724186044202007-05-22T20:12:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:03:27.243+05:30

This will easily qualify as among the best stories by Clarke - particularly the last third, or may be the last half. Be happy, & do the best you can - and gods will generally smile back! Sounds like Gita!And by & large, it is a down to earth story, in spite of native Martian animals, technology to create a sun, & a few other exotics.Story summary (spoiler).Main story is about

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-56962738662937642792007-05-19T17:11:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:03:33.986+05:30

I kept postponing this book because of title. Sounds like one of those space empire stories. But the title is totally inappropriate. This is a story about very ordinary politics & diplomacy, in a rather exotic environment. And quite readable.Story summary (spoiler).There are three parts to the plot: a description of the life in a human colony on Titan (a moon of Saturn); a description of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-34882679629794778422007-05-13T20:24:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:04:02.429+05:30

This is one of the more imaginative stories of Clarke. And well told.And this story could not have been possible if quartz watches were around when the story was written. That should tell something of the age of the story.Story summary (spoiler).First thread of the story, the one involving the war monger ("Master"), begins almost in our time. After bringing a lot of world to ruin, Master is

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-88867016121591604222007-05-12T00:15:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:04:22.985+05:30

This engrossing piece of satire is written in a somewhat unconventional style - as a series of memos between government officials & departments.Story summary (spoiler).Martians have had a technology civilization for a while, while humans are still at a rather primitive stage. With advent of radio on earth, Martian government have been monitoring the development of earthlings.That is when they

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-39438023527751599692007-05-10T23:25:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:04:35.258+05:30

In spirit, this story has something in common with the story of Moonface in "2001 A Space Odyssey". But the link is tenuous; this is generally a different story.It concerns the transformation of an almost animal community into a technological civilization. And is well written, even with some rather incredulous assumptions.There is another view I can take of this story - as an allegory in the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-47026214670592160952007-05-09T01:16:00.001+05:302008-04-05T12:14:34.103+05:30

Best thing about this book is readability - at least the first 80% of it. Most of the time, I found it difficult to put it down. And that is when fantasy is not really my genre!Last 10 or 20% is garbage - where some ultimate answers are given. Something that should be best left to Hitchhiker's Guide.If you like Harry Potter, this will probably be an interesting book; if Potter bores you, this

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-33326876076208943552007-05-09T01:10:00.001+05:302008-03-19T18:11:08.923+05:30

This is actually a joke rather than a story - about God & Creation; dates from 1980s. You won't miss anything if you never read it, though I know someone who liked it.Searching Google or some blog search engine might throw all of its 2 or 3 lines of text; I recall having seen more than one copies on the web. Here is one online copy (big DOC file that includes this story inline).Fact

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-33341733463623249472007-05-06T02:06:00.000+05:302008-01-11T00:05:35.157+05:30

This could have been among the best science fiction stories by anyone, but Clarke just keeps going on tangents rather than sticking to the main story. I felt a bit sad at the end; what a waste!This also is among the most down to earth stories of Clarke, in company with "The Deep Range". Except for various diversions. Also, these two stories share a tenuous link via Thero, a kind of Dalai Lama of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5525180969358859346.post-83568027004076356592007-05-06T01:33:00.000+05:302007-12-22T02:07:07.676+05:30

This lovely little piece of humor is set in England around the time of war. I presume one of the world wars is meant. But it might as well have been set in India of 1970s or 80s; situation is very familiar.Story summary (spoiler).In a little town, you have alcohol shortages, governmental rationing, & a prohibition on brewing. Plus ordinary citizens have to pay several hundred percent sin tax

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0