The Written Works of Arthur C. Clarke

Science Fiction Short Stories

Expedition to Earth

Clarke's first short story collection includes "The Sentinel," the story on which the movie and novel "2001: A Space Odyssey" were based. The 11 stories are:

• Second Dawn (1951)
• "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." (1951)
• Breaking Strain (1949)
• History Lesson (1949)
• Superiority (1951)
• Exile of the Eons (1950)
• Hide and Seek (1949)
• Expedition to Earth (1953)
• Loophole (1946)
• Inheritance (1948)
• The Sentinel (1951)

Reach for Tomorrow

This collection of short stories includes "Rescue Party," which was Ckarke's first published story. The 12 stories are:

• Resuce Party (1946)
• A Walk in the Dark (1950)
• The Forgotten Enemy (1953)
• Technical Error (1950)
• The Parasite (1953)
• The Fires Within (1949)
• The Awakening (1951)
• Trouble with the Natives (1951)
• The Curse (1953)
• Time's Arrow (1952)
• Jupiter Five (1953)
• The Possessed (1952)

Tales of the "White Hart"

A collection of stories as "recounted" by a group of scientists who regularly met at the "White Hart" pub. The 15 stories are:

• Silence Please (1954)
• Big Game Hunt (1954)
• Patent Pending (1954)
• Armaments Race (1954)
• Critical Mass (1957)
• The Ultimate Melody (1956)
• The Pacifist (1956)
• The Next Tenants (1956)
• Moving Spirit (1956)
• The Man Who Ploughed the Sea (1956)
• The Reluctant Orchid (1956)
• Cold War (1956)
• What Goes Up (1955)
• Sleeping Beauty (1957)
• The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch (1956)

The Other Side of the Sky

Clarke's last collection of short stories before the beginning of the space age (Sputnik 1 was launched in October 1959) includes "Take a Deep Breath," which was used by Stanley Kubrick as the basis for one of the more dramatic scenes in "2001: A Space Odyssey." "The Songs of Distant Earth" was later expanded into a novel. The 24 stories are:

• The Nine Billion Names of God (1953)
• Refugee (1955)
• The Other Side of the Sky (1957)
• The Wall of Darkness (1949)
• Security Check (1957)
• No Morning After (1954)
• Venture to the Moon (1956)
• Publicity Campaign (1956)
• All the Time in the World (1952)
• Cosmic Casanova (1957)
• The Star (1955)
• Out of the Sun (1957)
• Transcience (1949)
• The Songs of Distant Earth (1957)

Tales of Ten Worlds

The Earth, planets, moons, comets, and the stars are all locales for some of Clarke's most adventurous short stories. The 15 stories are:

• I Remember Babylon (1960)
• Summertime on Icarus (1960)
• Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting... (1959)
• Who's There? (1958)
• Hate (1961)
• Into the Comet (1960)
• An Ape About the House (1962)
• Saturn Rising (1961)
• Let There Be Light (1957)
• Death and the Senator (1961)
• Trouble with Time (1960)
• Before Eden (1961)
• A Slight Case of Sunstroke (1958)
• Dog Star (1962)
• The Road to the Sea (1950)

The Wind from the Sun

Go solar sailing with Clarke in "The Wind from the Sun" and other fine tales that were originally published during 1962 to 1972. The 18 stories are:

• The Food of the Gods
• Maelstrom II
• The Shining Ones
• The Wind from the Sun
• The Secret
• The Last Command
• Dial F for Frankenstein
• Reunion
• Playback
• The Light of Darkness
• The Longest Science Fiction Story Ever Told
• Herbert George Marley Roberts Wells, Esq.
• Love That Universe
• Crusade
• The Cruel Sky
• Neutron Tide
• Transit of Earth
• A Meeting with Medusa

The Nine Billion Names of God

This anthology, subtitled "The Best of Arthur C. Clarke," includes the short stories that Clarke himself considers his favorites. The 25 stories are: (* = previously published)

• The Nine Billion Names of God (1953) *
• I Remember Babylon (1960) *
• Trouble with Time (1960) *
• Resuce Party (1946) *
• The Curse (1953) *
• Summertime on Icarus (1960) *
• Dog Star (1962) *
• Hide and Seek (1949) *
• Out of the Sun (1957) *
• The Wall of Darkness (1949) *
• No Morning After (1954) *
• The Possessed (1952) *
• Death and the Senator (1961) *
• Who's There? (1958) *
• Before Eden (1961) *
• Superiority (1951) *
• A Walk in the Dark (1950) *
• The Call of the Stars
• The Reluctant Orchid (1956) *
• Encounter at Dawn
• "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." (1951) *
• Patent Pending (1954) *
• The Sentinel (1951) *
• Transcience (1949) *
• The Star (1955) *

Across the Sea of Stars

Anthology of selected short stories and novels. Additional information not available.

From the Oceans, From the Stars

Anthology of selected short stories and novels. Additional information not available.

Prelude to Mars

Anthology of selected short stories and novels. Additional information not available.

The Sentinel

Anthology of short stories. Additional information not available.

Tales from Planet Earth

Anthology of short stories. Additional information not available.

More Than One Universe

Anthology of short stories. Additional information not available.

A Meeting with Medusa

Anthology of short stories. Additional information not available.

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

Anthology of 104 short stories that were originally published during the period of December 1937 to November 1999.

Science Fiction Novels

The Lion of Comarre/Against the Fall of Night

Plot: In "The Lion of Comarre," a young man sets out in search of a mysterious city said to be hidden in the Arctic reaches. In "Against the Fall of Night," another young man challenges the accepted way of life that has existed within a walled city for millions of years and explores the wastelands outside the city walls.

The Sands of Mars

Plot: When a celebrated science fiction writer takes his first trip to Mars, he stumbles upon some of Mars's most carefully hidden secrets and unwittingly threatens the future of the planet.

Islands in the Sky

Plot: A young man makes his first trip into space and to the space stations that are like "Islands in the Sky."

Prelude to Space

Plot: Three brave men embark on mankind's first true spaceship in this prophet look at space travel before the beginning of the space age.

Childhood's End

Plot: Earth is visited by a fleet of alien vessels that darken the skies with one goal in mind, but what is that goal?

Earthlight

Plot: The discovery of heavy metals on the Moon leads to tension and the possible outbreak of armed conflict between Earth and its colonies.

The City and the Stars

Plot: Eight years after the initial publication of "Against the Fall of Night," Clarke revisited that novel and completely rewrote his story of a young man who ventures outside a city that has isolated itself from the outside for millions of years. This is the revised and expanded version of that original novel.

The Deep Range

Plot: In the near future, whales are raised in undersea ranches to feed mankind, but a life and death struggle lies in wait for one of the "whaleboys."

A Fall of Moondust

Plot: A tourist spaceship crashes on the Moon, imprisoning 22 people under an avalanche of moondust, and the task of finding and rescuing them falls on the shoulders of one man.

Dolphin Island

Plot: When a cargo hovership crashes into the Pacific, the sole survivor is saved by a school of dolphins who guide him to an island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Glide Path

Plot: In a departure from his usual science fiction fare, Clarke recounts the story of the invention and early tests of ground control radar during the World War II era.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Plot: When a mysterious black monolith is found buried on the Moon, a group of astronauts embark on an incredible journey through space and time that leads them to one of Jupiter's moons.

Rendezvous with Rama

Plot: An immense and mysterious spacecraft from deep space makes a close fly-by of Earth and a group of astronauts and scientists are sent to investigate whether the craft poses a threat to Earth.

Imperial Earth

Plot: It is the 500th Anniversary of America's independence, and the leader of the human colony on Titan returns to the home of his forefathers to solve a mystery and to create a son -- a clone of himself.

The Fountains of Paradise

Plot: On the top of a sacred mountain on Sri Lanka, scientists and engineers erect an incredible structure -- an elevator to space.

2010: Odyssey Two

Plot: In this first sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey," American and Russian astronauts set out to find out what happened to the Discovery probe of nine years earlier, and have an unexpected encounter with an alien intelligence on Jupiter's moon Europa.

The Songs of Distant Earth

Plot: As Earth approaches its final days before planetary extinction, a massive spacecraft departs, carrying with it the last remaining refugees of humankind to a new home many light years away.

2061: Odyssey Three

Plot: In this second sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey," mankind is eagerly awaiting the return of Halley Comet and also enbarking on another expedition to Jupiter's moon Europa.

Cradle

Plot: Beneath the ocean waves lies a mysterious power that could trigger humankind's extinction.

Rama II

Plot: In this first sequel to 'Rendezvous with Rama," a second team of Earth scientists is dispatched to the returning Rama spacecraft, and their lives will never be the same again.

Beyond the Fall of Night

Plot: In this sequel to "Beyond the Fall of Night" and "The City and the Stars," the young man who dared rebel against million of years of tradition continues his journey of exploration outside the walled city.

Ghost from the Grand Banks

Plot: A hundred years after it sank in the icy North Atlantic, two of the world's most powerful corporations race to find a way to raise and preserve the doomed ocean liner Titanic.

The Gardens of Rama

Plot: In this second sequel to "Rendezvous with Rama," three Earth astronauts who were trapped aboard the alien spacecraft when it left the Solar System establish a life for themselves and explore the far reaches of their home in space.

The Hammer of God

Plot: In the year 2011, a meteor is detected on a collision course with Earth, and a team of astronauts are sent to deflect the meteor from its appointment with catastrophe.

Rama Revealed

Plot: In this third and final sequel to 'Rendezvous with Rama," the stranded Earth astronauts and their descendents find themselves aboard a new and larger alien craft with a virtual menagerie of other alien species, and interspecies war is a definite possibility.

Richter 10

Plot: A seimologist who has developed a unique theory of earthquake prediction know that "The Big One" is coming, but in a future world run by Chinese corporations, there are many who don't want him to succeed in his attempts to prevent disaster.

3001: Final Odyssey

Plot: In this third and final sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey," one of the lost astronauts of the failed Discovery probe of 2001 is discovered in the frozen reaches of the galaxy and revived to set out on a final encounter with the mysterious black monolith and its intelligent masters.

The Trigger

Plot: The "trigger" was developed by a brilliant young physicist as a device to render guns and bombs virtually harmless; but a power struggle soon develops between good and evil forces for control of the device.

The Light of Other Days

Plot: A brilliant scientist develops a device that allows people to see each other anywhere, even in their most private moments; but this really takes an unexpected turn when it is discovered that the device can also be used to look into the past.

Time's Eye [Book 1 of "A Time Odyssey"]

Plot: A powerful alien race known as the Firstborn plunges Earth into a patchwork of time, with people from different eras, ranging from the prehistoric to the distant future, co-existing at the same time; and two small groups of 21st Century humans try to reach the ancient city of Babylon, where the answer to what has happened might be found.

Sunstorm [Book 2 of "A Time Odyssey"]

Plot: Returned to her 21st Century Earth by the Firstborn, a young woman finds an Earth on the brink of destruction from changes in the sun's core -- changes that were put in motion 2,000 years ago. Now, the people of Earth must put aside their ideological differences and work together to stop the catastrophe or perish.

Selected Nonfiction

Here is a list of most of Arthur C. Clarke's nonfiction books in alphabetical order. The ones with a publication date after the title are ones that I have in my collection.

• Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (with Simon Welfare & John Fairley)
• Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers (with Simon Welfare & John Fairley)
• Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography
• Astounding Stories: A Science Fictional Autobiography (1989)
• Beyond Jupiter (with Chesley Bonestell)
• Boy Beneath the Sea
• The Challenge of the Sea
• The Challenge of the Spaceship (1958)
• The Coast of Coral
• The Exploration of Space (1951)
• The Exploration of the Moon
• The First Five Fathoms
• First on the Moon (with the Astronauts)
• Going into Space
• How the World Was One (1992)
• Indian Ocean Adventure
• Indian Ocean Treasure
• Interplanetary Flight (1950)
• Into Space (with Robert Silverberg)
• The Lost Worlds of 2001 (1972)
• The Making of a Moon
• Man and Space (with the Editors of LIFE)
• The Odyssey Files: The Making of 2010 (with Peter Hyams) (1984)
• Profiles of the Future (1962)
• The Promise of Space
• The Reefs of Taprobane
• Report on Planet Three (1972)
• The Treasure of the Great Reef
• The View from Serendip (1978)
• Voice Across te Sea (1958)
• Voices from the Sky (1965)
• 1984: Spring - A Choice of Futures (1984)