Search Worlds Without End

Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist-cruiser "Selene", incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust. On the surface, her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the pitiless and unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment.

Nebula winning and Hugo nominated novella.

In leading an expedition through the many-layered Jovian atmosphere in the hydrogen balloon craft Kon-Tiki, Captain Howard Falcon discovers a world where bioluminescent air plankton produce brilliant atmospheric sea-fire, predatory manta-ray creatures dominate the skies, and enormous jellyfish-like beings grow to be over a mile across.

This story was originally published in the December 1971 issue of Playboy and has been reprinted many times. It is incuded in the collections The Wind from the Sun (1972), The Sentinel (1983) and The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2000). It is half of the Tor Double A Meeting with Medusa / Green Mars (1988). It can be found in numerous anthologies. Among them Nebula Award Stories Eight (1973), edited by Isaac Asimov, Best SF: 1971 (1972) edited by Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss, The Best Science Fiction of the Year (1972) edited by Terry Carr, The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983), edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg and The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 2 (2000), edited by Frederik Pohl.

This "science-fictional autobiography" by the author of "Childhood's End" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" is an account of the circumstances and stories that set Arthur C.Clarke on the path to becoming one of the world's most successful science fiction writers.

When the silent spacecraft arrived and took the light from the world, no one knew what to expect. But, although the Overlords kept themselves hidden from man, they had come to unite a warring world and to offer an end to poverty and crime.

When they finally showed themselves it was a shock, but one that humankind could now cope with, and an era of peace, prosperity and endless leisure began.

But the children of this utopia dream strange dreams of distant suns and alien planets, and begin to evolve into something incomprehensible to their parents, and soon they will be ready to join the Overmind...and, in a grand and thrilling metaphysical climax, leave the Earth behind.

In 1994, a missile mysteriously disappears off the coast of Florida during military testing. While investigating the link between the disappearance and some unusual whale sightings, journalist Carol Dawson finds much more-an enigmatic artifact that may not be of earthly origin.

The artifact may be worth millions-and Dawson and her colleagues must outwit thieves and criminals to keep it safe. But the artifact leads to another, bigger discovery deep beneath the ocean's surface-a discovery that could change the face of humanity forever.

Set in the recent future, a cargo hovership makes an emergency landing in a rural part of the Midwest. An adventurous teenager, Johnny Clinton, sneaks on board-only to survive a second crash a few hours later, this time into the Pacific Ocean. The crew escapes, but Johnny is left on board-adrift in the wreckage of the ship.

Johnny is rescued by a pod of dolphins-who bring him to a remote island hidden in the heart of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. There, Johnny meets the brilliant and eccentric Professor Kazan, who has dedicated his life to the study of dolphin communication. Johnny's further adventures with dolphins and the sea make this an exciting and fascinating coming-of-age story.

Two hundred years after landing on the Moon, mankind has moved further out into the solar system. With permanent settlements now established on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, the inhabitants of these colonies have formed a political alliance called the Federation.

On the Moon, a government agent from Earth is tracking a suspected spy at a prominent observatory. His mission is complicated by the rise in tensions between Earth's government and the Federation over access to rare heavy metals. As the agent finds himself locked in a battle for life and death on the eerie, lunar landscape, the larger conflict explodes across space, leaving mankind's future in doubt.

First published in 1955, this suspense-filled space opera by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inductee was a significant forerunner of television hits like Star Trek and The Expanse.

ELEVEN MASTERFUL SCIENCE FICTION TALES OF WONDER IN THIS WORLD AND BEYOND

HIDE AND SEEK
"K.15 was a military intelligence operative. It gave him a considerable pain when unimaginative people called him a spy. But at the moment he had much more serious grounds for complaint..."

SUPERIORITY
"When the war opened we had no doubt of our ultimate victory. The combined fleets of our allies greatly exceeded in number and armament those which the enemy could muster against us. We were sure we could maintain this superiority. Our belief proved, alas, to be only too well founded..."

EXPEDITION TO EARTH
"It was in the last days of the Empire. The tiny ship was far from home, and almost a hundred light-years from the great parent vessel searching through the loosely packed stars at the rim of the Milky Way. But even here it could not escape from the shadow that lay across civilization..."

The most visionary and versatile thinker of this century here gathers together in a single volume his most significant and prophetic nonfiction writings to present a personal view of the twentieth century. Sir Arthur C Clarke lucidly demonstrates in this beautiful book that he not only anticipated many of the twentieth century's great inventions and scientific innovations, he also inspired the careers of thousands of scientists, and in fact has shaped our path ahead in to the next millennium. The reader is swept into the course of events and becomes an active and informed participant rather than a remote bystander. From predicting the role of geosynchronous satellites decades before they existed to his groundbreaking reporting from Kennedy Space Center in the 60s, to anticipating the internet decades before it happened, Clarke has acted both as technological prophet and cultural conscience, celebrating the great scientific powers of man -- but simultaneously warning of the perils of a world where power and greed reign unchecked.

Each essay has a new introduction by Clarke to provide perspective. The pieces themselves enable the reader to experience the excitement of taking part in a journey of discovery. Sir Arthur's bona fide scientific understanding is combined with a generosity of spirit, the interests of a new renaissance man, a sublime lack of false modesty and a great flair for the dramatic. This is arguably the crowning achievement of an unrivalled personal odyssey that began in England in 1917 and has ascended to the stars. It will very possibly be one of the few uplifting accounts around!

Table of Contents:

• xv - Acknowledgements (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!) - (1999) - essay
• xvii - Preface (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!) - (1999) - essay
• 3 - Introduction (Part I) - (1999) - essay
• 7 - Dunsany, Lord of Fantasy - (1944) - essay
• 13 - Rockets - (1944) - essay
• 17 - The Coming Age of Rocket Power - (1945) - essay
• 19 - Extraterrestrial Relays - (1945) - essay (variant of Extra-Terrestrial Relays)
• 26 - The Moon and Mr. Farnsworth - (1999) - essay
• 30 - The Challenge of the Spaceship - (1946) - essay
• 44 - First Men in the Moon - (1947) - essay
• 48 - The Problem of Dr. Campbell - (1948) - essay
• 54 - The Lackeys of Wall Street - (1949) - essay
• 58 - Voyages to the Moon - (1949) - essay
• 63 - You're on the Glide Path, I Think - essay (variant of You're on the Glide Path - I Think 1949)
• 72 - Morphological Astronomy - (1949) - essay
• 75 - The Conquest of Space - (1949) - essay
• 81 - Introduction (Part II) - (1999) - essay
• 82 - The Effect of Interplanetary Flight - (1950) - essay
• 84 - Space Travel in Fact and Fiction - (1951) - essay
• 99 - Review: Destination Moon - (1950) - essay
• 102 - Interplanetary Flight - (1950) - essay
• 105 - The Exploration of Space - (1951) - essay
• 108 - Review: When Worlds Collide - (1952) - essay
• 111 - Review: Man on the Moon - (1953) - essay
• 114 - Flying Saucers - (1953) - essay
• 119 - Review: Flying Saucers Have Landed - (1954) - essay
• 123 - Undersea Holiday - (1954) - essay (variant of Submarine Playground)
• 132 - The Exploration of the Moon - (1954) - essay
• 136 - Eclipse - (1954) - essay
• 139 - Astronautical Fallacies - (1954) - essay
• 145 - The Star of Bethlehem - (1954) - essay
• 153 - Capricorn to Cancer - (1957) - essay
• 157 - Keeping House in Colombo - (1957) - essay
• 161 - The Reefcombers' Derby - (1957) - essay
• 165 - Rest Houses, Catamarans, and Sharks - (1957) - essay
• 168 - The First Wreck - (1957) - essay
• 173 - A Clear Run to the South Pole - (1962) - essay
• 180 - The Isle of Taprobane - (1964) - essay
• 183 - The Great Reef - (1964) - essay
• 189 - Winding Up - (1964) - essay
• 195 - Introduction (Part III) - (1999) - essay
• 196 - Failures of Nerve and Imagination - (1962) - essay
• 204 - We'll Never Conquer Space - (1962) - essay
• 210 - Rocket to the Renaissance - (1960) - essay
• 217 - The Obsolescence of Man - (1961) - essay
• 226 - Space and the Spirit of Man - (1961) - essay (variant of Space Flight and the Spirit of Man)
• 231 - The Uses of the Moon - (1961) - essay
• 240 - The Playing Fields of Space - (1965) - essay
• 246 - Kalinga Prize Speech - (1962) - essay (variant of Kalinga Award Speech)
• 251 - More Than Five Senses - (1972) - essay
• 259 - Son of Dr. Strangelove - (1972) - essay
• 264 - Possible, That's All! - (1968) - essay
• 268 - The Mind of the Machine - (1968) - essay
• 277 - God and Einstein - (1972) - essay
• 281 - Introduction (Part IV) - (1999) - essay
• 283 - Satellites and Saris - (1971) - essay
• 291 - Mars and the Mind of Man - (1973) - essay
• 296 - The Sea of Sinbad - (1972) - essay
• 305 - Willy and Chesley - (1977) - essay
• 310 - The Snows of Olympus - (1974) - essay
• 313 - Writing to Sell - (1977) - essay
• 321 - Introduction (Part V) - (1999) - essay
• 323 - The Steam-Powered Word Processor - (1986) - short story
• 329 - Afterword: "Maelstrom II" - (1988) - essay (variant of An Afterword (Maelstrom))
• 333 - Mother Nature Got There First - (1990) - essay
• 337 - Message to Comsat, February 18, 1988 - (1992) - essay (variant of Happy Birthday, COMSAT!)
• 339 - Graduation Address: International Space University - (1999) - essay
• 342 - Back to 2001 - (1990) - essay
• 348 - Coauthors and Other Nuisances - (1989) - essay (variant of Afterword (Rama II))
• 353 - The Power of Compression - (1998) - essay (variant of Words That Inspire)
• 355 - Live in the Fax Lane - (1999) - essay
• 358 - Credo - (1991) - essay
• 364 - The Colors of Infinity: Exploring the Fractal Universe - (1989) - essay
• 368 - Close Encounter with Cosmonauts - (1990) - essay
• 371 - The Century Syndrome - (1990) - short fiction
• 374 - Who's Afraid of Leonard Woolf? - (1984) - essay
• 380 - My Four Feet on the Ground - (1978) - essay
• 385 - Introduction (Part VI) - (1999) - essay
• 387 - Marconi Symposium - (1999) - essay
• 389 - Introduction to Charlie Pellegrino's Unearthing Atlantis - (1991) - essay
• 392 - Tribute to Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) - (1989) - essay
• 396 - Satyajit and Stanley - (1999) - essay
• 398 - Aspects of Science Fiction - (1999) - essay
• 406 - Save the Giant Squid! - (1992) - essay (variant of Squid!)
• 410 - A Choice of Futures - (1992) - essay
• 416 - Gene Roddenberry - (1992) - essay
• 418 - Introduction to Jack Williamson's Beachhead - (1992) - essay
• 421 - Scenario for a Civilized Planet - (1992) - essay (variant of What Is to Be Done)
• 428 - NASA Sutra: Eros in Orbit - (1992) - essay
• 434 - Minehead Made Me - (1992) - essay
• 436 - Good-bye, Isaac - (1992) - essay
• 438 - Encyclical - (1993) - short fiction
• 440 - Letter from Sri Lanka - [Letters: Arthur C. Clarke] - (1999) - essay
• 448 - Message to Mars - (1994) - essay
• 450 - Preface: The War of the Worlds - (1993) - essay
• 456 - Preface: The First Men in the Moon - (1993) - essay
• 460 - The Joy of Maths - (1999) - essay
• 465 - Tribute to Robert Bloch - (1995) - essay
• 468 - Spaceguard - (1994) - essay
• 472 - Foreword: Encyclopedia of Frauds by James Randi - (1995) - essay
• 475 - Bucky - (1999) - essay
• 477 - Homage to Frank Paul - (1999) - essay
• 479 - Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! - (1992) - essay
• 482 - The Birth of HAL - (1997) - essay
• 485 - The Coming of Cyberclysm - (1995) - essay
• 488 - Tribute to David Lasser - (1996) - essay
• 490 - Toilets of the Gods - (1999) - essay
• 492 - When Will the Real Space Age Begin? - (1996) - essay
• 496 - Review: Imagined Worlds by Freeman Dyson - (1997) - essay (variant of Mind Stretch)
• 501 - Eyes on the Universe - (1997) - essay (variant of Looking Up, Down the Barrel)
• 504 - Walter Alvarez and Gerrit L. Verschuur - (1997) - essay
• 509 - The Gay Warlords - (1999) - essay
• 512 - More Last Words on UFOs - (1997) - essay (variant of Why ET Will Never Call Home)
• 515 - Carl Sagan - (1997) - essay (variant of Space Sage)
• 519 - For Cherene, Tamara, and Melinda - (1992) - essay
• 525 - Science and Society - (1998) - essay (variant of Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids)
• 529 - Is There Life After Television? - (1997) - essay
• 534 - The Twenty-First Century: A (Very) Brief History - [Asimov's Editorials] - (1999) - essay
• 541 - Sources (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays 1934-1998) - (1999) - essay by uncredited
• 547 - Index (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays 1934-1998) - (1999) - essay by uncredited
• 557 - About the Author (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!) - (1999) - essay by uncredited
• 558 - About the Editor (Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: A Vision of the 20th Century As It Happened) - (1999) - essay by uncredited

In the year 2276, Duncan Makenzie travels from Saturn's moon, Titan, to Earth as a diplomatic envoy to the United States. As a member of Titan's 'First Family' descended from the moon's original settlers 500 years before, Duncan finds himself welcomed into the glittering political and social scene in Washington.

But Duncan isn't just on Earth for a diplomatic visit. Haunted by the memory of a woman from Earth he once loved, Duncan is also driven by the need to continue the family line-despite a devastating genetic defect. A tour-de-force of vivid characterization, futuristic vision, and suspense, Imperial Earth is one of Arthur C. Clarke's most ambitious novels.

Roy Malcolm has always been fascinated by space travel. And when he wins a voyage to the Inner Space Station as a game show prize, he's sure it's the trip of a lifetime. Before long, Roy is taken in by the young crew-and shares their adventures and lives.

One of Arthur C. Clarke's earliest novels, Islands in the Sky is particularly noteworthy for its description of geostationary communications satellites. While this technology was nonexistent during the writing of this book, it later became commonplace-and Clarke is credited with the first practical descriptions of such technology. This book is compelling not just as a fictional tale, but as an example of the prescient power of Clarke's vision.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1972) - essay by J. B. Priestley
• Foreword - (1972) - essay
• The Nine Billion Names of God - (1953) - shortstory
• An Ape About the House - (1962) - shortstory
• Green Fingers - (1956) - shortstory
• Trouble with the Natives - (1951) - shortstory
• Into the Comet - (1960) - shortstory
• No Morning After - (1954) - shortstory
• "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." - (1951) - shortstory
• Who's There? - (1958) - shortstory
• All the Time in the World - (1952) - shortstory
• Hide and Seek - (1949) - shortstory
• Robin Hood, F.R.S. - (1956) - shortstory
• The Fires Within - (1947) - shortstory
• The Forgotten Enemy - (1948) - shortstory
• The Reluctant Orchid - (1956) - shortstory
• Encounter at Dawn - (1953) - shortstory
• Security Check - (1956) - shortstory
• Feathered Friend - (1957) - shortstory
• The Sentinel - (1951) - shortstory

Contents:

• 3 - Foreword (Prelude to Space) - (1965) - essay
• 7 - Prelude to Space - (1951) - novel
• 147 - Big Game Hunt - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1956) - short story
• 154 - Critical Mass - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1949) - short story
• 161 - The Ultimate Melody - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1957) - short story
• 168 - Moving Spirit - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1957) - short story
• 180 - The Man Who Ploughed the Sea - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1957) - short story
• 196 - Cold War - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1957) - short story
• 203 - What Goes Up - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1956) - short story (variant of What Goes Up ...)
• 213 - Trouble with the Natives - (1951) - short story
• 227 - A Walk in the Dark - (1950) - short story
• 237 - The Forgotten Enemy - (1948) - short story
• 244 - The Parasite - (1953) - short story
• 255 - The Curse - (1946) - short story
• 258 - The Possessed - (1953) - short story
• 264 - The Awakening - (1942) - short story
• 269 - Exile of the Eons - (1950) - short story (variant of Nemesis)
• 284 - Second Dawn - (1951) - novelette
• 315 - Sands of Mars - (1951) - novel (variant of The Sands of Mars)

This book originally appeared in 1962, and was based on essays written during the period 1959 - 1961. Since it was concerned with ultimate possibilities, and not with achievements to be expected in the near future, even the remarkable events of the last decade have dated it very little. But Arthur Clarke has gone over the book making corrections and comments where necessary in order to bring it right up-to-date.

The author, amongst many fascinating excursions into what the future may hold, discusses the fourth dimension and the obsolescence of the law of gravity, the exploration of the entire solar system and the colonisation of some of it; seas will mined for energy and minerals, and asteroids will be pulled to Earth to supply needed materials; men, already bigger than they need be, may be bred smaller to be more efficient on less food.

Later editions carried the subtile: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible.

Contents:

• About Time
• Ages of Plenty
• Aladdin's Lamp
• Beyond Gravity
• Brain and Body
• Chart of the Future
• Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination
• Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Nerve
• Introduction (Profiles of the Future)
• Invisible Men, and Other Prodigies
• Riding on Air
• Rocket to the Renaissance - (1960)
• Space, the Unconquerable
• The Future of Transport
• The Long Twilight
• The Obsolescence of Man - (1961)
• The Quest For Speed
• The Road to Lilliput
• Voices from the Sky
• World Without Distance
• You Can't Get There From Here - (1962)

It was also the first expression of Clarke's Three Laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that... something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Based on Clarke's concept of solar sailing, this anthology of tales and essays features the work of such authors as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Poul Anderson...

Table of Contents:

• Foreword: The Winds of Space - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• Introduction: Sailing the Void - essay by Isaac Asimov
• The Wind from the Sun - (1964) - novelette by Arthur C. Clarke
• To Sail Beyond the Sun (A Luminous Collage) - poem by Ray Bradbury and Jonathan V. Post
• The Canvas of the Night - essay by Eric Drexler
• Ice Pilot - short story by David Brin
• A Solar Privateer - (1981) - poem by Jonathan Eberhart
• Sunjammer - (1964) - novelette by Poul Anderson
• A Rebel Technology Comes Alive - essay by Chauncey Uphoff and Jonathan V. Post
• Argosies of Magic Sails (excerpts from "Locksley Hall") - (1842) - poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson
• Ion Propulsion: The Solar Sail's Competition for Access to the Solar System - essay by Bryan Palaszewski
• The Grand Tour - (1987) - short story by Charles Sheffield
• Lightsail - poem by Scott E. Green
• Rescue at L-5 - short story by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
• Lightsails to the Stars - essay by Robert L. Forward and Joel Davis
• The Fourth Profession - (1971) - novelette by Larry Niven
• Goodnight, Children - short story by Joe Clifford Faust
• Solar Sails in an Interplanetary Economy - essay by Robert L. Staehle and Louis Friedman
• Afterword - essay by Arthur C. Clarke

From the grandmaster of science fiction, a dozen memorable tales filled with wonder and imagination.

Contents:

• 5 - Preface (Reach for Tomorrow) - (1956) - essay
• 11 - Rescue Party - (1946) - novelette
• 43 - A Walk in the Dark - (1950) - shortstory
• 55 - The Forgotten Enemy - (1948) - shortstory
• 63 - Technical Error - (1946) - shortstory
• 83 - The Parasite - (1953) - shortstory
• 97 - The Fires Within - (1947) - shortstory
• 108 - The Awakening - (1942) - shortstory
• 114 - Trouble with the Natives - (1951) - shortstory
• 129 - The Curse - (1946) - shortstory
• 132 - Time's Arrow - (1950) - shortstory
• 149 - Jupiter Five - (1953) - novelette
• 184 - The Possessed - (1953) - shortstory

In addition to being one of Science Fiction's greatest writers, Sir Arthur C. Clarke was also one of our foremost thinkers and visionaries, producing a number of highly readable and important non-fiction works. Report of Planet Three is a collection of 23 essays on the future of Man and his technology, including essays on space, satellite communications, the internet, alien contact, UFO debunking and relativity.

Contents:

• [ix] - Preface (Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations) - (1971) - essay
• 13 - Report on Planet Three - (1959) - essay
• 21 - The Men on the Moon - (1958) - essay
• 32 - Meteors - (1959) - essay
• 42 - The Star of the Magi - (1954) - essay (variant of The Star of Bethlehem)
• 53 - Vacation in Vacuum - (1953) - essay
• 65 - So You're Going to Mars? - (1953) - essay
• 76 - Next--the Planets! - (1968) - essay
• 89 - The Planets Are Not Enough - (1955) - essay
• 100 - When the Aliens Come - (1968) - essay
• 115 - Possible, That's All! - (1968) - essay
• 122 - God and Einstein - (1972) - essay
• 124 - Across the Sea of Stars - (1959) - essay
• 133 - The Mind of the Machine - (1968) - essay
• 146 - Technology And The Future - (1967) - essay
• 160 - Beyond Babel - (1969) - essay
• 177 - More Than Five Senses - (1972) - essay
• 188 - Things That Can Never Be Done - (1972) - essay
• 199 - The World We Can Not See - (1972) - essay
• 211 - Things in the Sky - (1959) - essay
• 225 - Which Way Is Up? - (1959) - essay
• 236 - Haldane And Space - (1968) - essay
• 244 - Son of Dr. Strangelove - (1972) - essay
• 253 - The Myth of 2001 - (1969) - essay

When he was seven years old, a major earthquake killed Lewis Crane's parents. As an adult, Crane has dedicated his life to protecting humanity from a similar tragedy. He's a Nobel-winning earthquake scientist, and the founder of the Foundation-an organization that has perfected equipment sensitive enough to predict an earthquake strike down to the minute.

With unrelenting dedication to his cause, Crane's organization explores the idea of fusing the Earth's tectonic plates together-stopping all earthquakes forever by halting tectonic activity. But what effect will this have on the earth-and can it stop another major earthquake due in the United States?

In this book, Arthur C. Clarke applies an imagination big enough for deep space to the inner workings of our planet. It's a fascinating exploration of the possible future of earthquake prediction technology-and a compelling read for science fiction fans.

In Clarke's first published full-length science fiction novel, renowned science fiction writer Martin Gibson joins the spaceship Ares, the world's first interplanetary ship for passenger travel, on its maiden voyage to Mars. His mission: to report back to the home planet about the new Mars colony and the progress it has been making.

First published in 1951, before the achievement of space flight, Clarke addresses hard physical and scientific issues with aplomb-and the best scientific understanding of the times. Included are the challenges of differing air pressures, lack of oxygen, food provisions, severe weather patterns, construction on Mars, and methods of local travel-both on the surface and to the planet's two moons.

From outside it was simply an ordinary looking London pub, a place you'd have to be guided to more than once before you memorized it's location, somewhere between Fleet Street & the Embankment. But, if by chance, an insider led you to the White Hart on a Wednesday night, you would have found yourself in the midst of a select gathering or writers, editors, scientists & interested layman--drinking, swapping odd bits of information, &, like as not, listening to Harry Purvis' memorable stories.

A scientist by profession, Harry Purvis has had or heard about some of the most astonishing experiences--like the story of the carnivorous orchid that was used in a murder plot, or the one about the military computer that was converted to pacifism. There's SILENCE PLEASE, involving a spurned lover & a device that was supposed to destroy sound; & BIG GAME HUNT, in which an ambitious researcher becomes so wrapped up in his latest projest--controlling animal behavior with electrical impulses-- that he overlooks one tiny important detail. Such stories may challenge your powers of logic & strain your imagination. Yet even if you doubt their veracity, they're guaranteed to provide you with hours of SF reading. Baron Munchausen, step aside.

Table of Contents:

• Preface - (1957) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• Silence, Please! - (1950)
• Big Game Hunt - (1956)
• Patent Pending - (1954)
• Armaments Race - (1954)
• Critical Mass - (1949)
• The Ultimate Melody - (1957)
• The Pacifist - (1956)
• The Next Tenants
• Moving Spirit - (1957)
• The Man Who Ploughed the Sea - (1957)
• The Reluctant Orchid - (1956)
• Cold War - (1957)
• What Goes Up ... - (1956)
• Sleeping Beauty - (1957)
• The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch - (1957)

This classic collection of short stories includes some of Clarke's finest work: vivid glimpses into the future, a year, a decade, a century, a millennium from now.

Contents:

• 11 - I Remember Babylon - (1960) - shortstory
• 23 - Summertime on Icarus - (1960) - shortstory
• 35 - Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting... - (1959) - shortstory
• 41 - Who's There? - (1958) - shortstory
• 47 - Hate - (1961) - shortstory
• 63 - Into the Comet - (1960) - shortstory
• 75 - An Ape About the House - (1962) - shortstory
• 83 - Saturn Rising - (1961) - shortstory
• 95 - Let There Be Light - [Tales from the White Hart] - (1957) - shortstory
• 103 - Death and the Senator - (1961) - shortstory
• 125 - Trouble With Time - (1960) - shortstory
• 131 - Before Eden - (1961) - shortstory
• 143 - A Slight Case of Sunstroke - (1958) - shortstory
• 151 - Dog Star - (1962) - shortstory
• 157 - The Road to the Sea - (1951) - novella

Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar; for millennia its protective dome shutout the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it held powers that rules the stars. But then, as legend had it, The invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, A Unique to break through Diaspar's stifling inertia, to smash the legend and discover the true nature of the Invaders.

This is a revised and expanded version of Against the Fall of Night.

In the distant future, Earth has entered its final ice age-precipitated by the cooling of the sun. In this forbidding climate, a small tribe of nomadic human survivors travels toward the equator ahead of glaciers moving down from the North Pole, carrying with them a handful of relics from the 21st century-and racing against the ice to preserve them from annihilation.

This collection is a showcase of groundbreaking stories that wrestle with the moral, psychological, and ethical implications of scientific advancement-written by one of the foremost science fiction authors of our time.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - (2000) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• Travel By Wire! - (1937)
• How We Went to Mars - (1938)
• Retreat From Earth - (1938)
• Reverie - (1939) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• The Awakening - (1942)
• Whacky - (1942)
• Loophole - (1946)
• Rescue Party - (1946)
• Technical Error - (1946)
• Castaway - (1947)
• The Fires Within - (1947)
• Inheritance - (1947)
• Nightfall - (1947)
• History Lesson - (1949)
• Transience - (1949)
• The Wall of Darkness - (1949)
• The Lion of Comarre - (1949)
• The Forgotten Enemy - (1948)
• Hide-and-Seek - (1949)
• Breaking Strain - (1949)
• Nemesis - (1950)
• Guardian Angel - (1950)
• Time's Arrow - (1950)
• A Walk in the Dark - (1950)
• Silence Please - (1950)
• Trouble with the Natives - (1951)
• The Road to the Sea - (1951)
• The Sentinel - (1951)
• Holiday on the Moon - (1951)
• Earthlight - (1951)
• Second Dawn - (1951)
• Superiority - (1951)
• "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." - (1951)
• All the Time in the World - (1952)
• The Nine Billion Names of God - (1953)
• The Possessed - (1953)
• The Parasite - (1953)
• Jupiter Five - (1953)
• Encounter in the Dawn - (1953)
• The Other Tiger - (1953)
• Publicity Campaign - (1953)
• Armaments Race - (1954)
• The Deep Range - (1955)
• No Morning After - (1954)
• Big Game Hunt - (1956)
• Patent Pending - (1954)
• Refugee - (1955)
• The Star - (1955)
• What Goes Up - (1956)
• Venture to the Moon - (1956)
• The Pacifist - (1956)
• The Reluctant Orchid - (1956)
• Moving Spirit - (1957)
• The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch - (1957)
• The Ultimate Melody - (1957)
• The Next Tenants - (1957)
• Cold War - (1957)
• Sleeping Beauty - (1957)
• Security Check - (1956)
• The Man Who Ploughed the Sea - (1957)
• Critical Mass - (1949)
• The Other Side of the Sky - (1957)
• Let There Be Light - (1957)
• Out of the Sun - (1958)
• Cosmic Casanova - (1958)
• The Songs of Distant Earth - (1958)
• A Slight Case of Sunstroke - (1958)
• Who's There? - (1958)
• Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting... - (1959)
• I Remember Babylon - (1960)
• Trouble With Time - (1960)
• Into the Comet - (1960)
• Summertime on Icarus - (1960)
• Saturn Rising - (1961)
• Death and the Senator - (1961)
• Before Eden - (1961)
• Hate - (1961)
• Love That Universe - (1961)
• Dog Star - (1962)
• Maelstrom II - (1965)
• An Ape About the House - (1962)
• The Shining Ones - (1964)
• The Secret - (1963)
• Dial F for Frankenstein - (1965)
• The Wind from the Sun - (1964)
• The Food of the Gods - (1964)
• The Last Command - (1965)
• The Light of Darkness - (1966)
• The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told - (1966)
• Playback - (1966)
• The Cruel Sky - (1967)
• Herbert George Morley Roberts Wells, Esq. - (1967) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• Crusade - (1968)
• Neutron Tide - (1970)
• Reunion - (1971)
• Transit of Earth - (1971)
• A Meeting With Medusa - (1971)
• Quarantine - (1977)
• siseneG - (1984)
• The Steam-Powered Word Processor - (1986)
• On Golden Seas - (1986)
• The Hammer of God - (1992)
• The Wire Continuum - (1998)
• Improving the Neighbourhood - (1999)

A century into the future, humanity lives mostly on the sea. Gigantic whale herds are tended by submariners, and vast plankton farms feed the world.

Walter Franklin, once a space engineer, now works on a submarine patrol. This novel tells the story of his adventures, including Franklin's capture of an enormous kraken at 12,000 feet under the sea; his search for a monstrous sea serpent; and the thrilling rescue of a sunken submarine-all set against the backdrop of a futuristic world that's both imaginative and believable.

Vannemar Morgan's dream is to link Earth to the stars with the greatest engineering feat of all time;a 24,000-mile-high space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political, and economic problems while allaying the wrath of God. For the only possible site on the planet for Morgan's Orbital Tower is the monastery atop the Sacred Mountain of Sri Kanda. And for two thousand years, the monks have protected Sri Kanda from all mortal quests for glory. Kings and princes who have sought to conquer the Sacred Mountain have all died.Now Vannemar Morgan may be next.

Two years before the centennial anniversary of the Titanic's demise, two powerful corporations are competing to raise the two halves of the famous ship. But what they find deep beneath the ocean's surface is more than they bargained for: six perfectly preserved bodies, including one of a beautiful woman who was not listed among the ship's original passengers. Who was she-and what was her secret? The mission to find out becomes all-consuming-and, for some, deadly.

This fast-paced tale combines a centuries-old mystery with thoroughly modern suspense-and Clarke's unmatched vision of future technologies.

A century into the future, technology has solved most of the problems that have plagued our time. However, a new problem is on the horizon-one greater than humanity has ever faced. A massive asteroid is racing toward the earth, and its impact could destroy all life on the planet.

Immediately after the asteroid-named "Kali" after the Hindu goddess of chaos and destruction-is discovered, the world's greatest scientists begin their search for a way to prevent disaster. In the meantime, Captain Robert Singh, aboard the starship Goliath, may be the only person who can stop the asteroid. But this heroic role may demand the ultimate sacrifice.

This short story originally appeared in Time, September 28, 1992. It was reprinted in Lightspeed, December 2011. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection (1993), edited by Arthur C. Clarke, and The Hard SF Renaissance (2002), edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell. It is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2000). The story was expanded to the full novel The Hammer of God (1993).

Read the full story for free at Lighspeed.

The final work from the brightest star in science fiction's galaxy. Arthur C Clarke, who predicted the advent of communication satellites and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey completes a lifetime career in science fiction with a masterwork.

30 light years away, a race known simply as the One Point Fives are plotting a dangerous invasion plan, one that will wipe humankind off the face of the Earth...

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, a young astronomy student, Ranjit Subramanian, becomes obsessed with a three-hundred-year-old theorem that promises to unlock the secrets of the universe. While Ranjit studies the problem, tensions grow between the nations of the world and a UN taskforce headed up by China, America and Russia code-named Silent Thunder begins bombing volatile regimes into submission.

On the eve of the invasion of Earth a space elevator is completed, helped in part by Ranjit, which will herald a new type of Olympics to be held on the Moon. But when alien forces arrive Ranjit is forced to question his own actions, in a bid to save the lives of not just his own family but of all of humankind.

Co-written with fellow grand master Frederik Pohl, The Last Theorem not only provides a fitting end to the career one of the most famous names in science fiction but also sets a new benchmark in contemporary prescient science fiction. It tackles with ease epic themes as diverse as third world poverty, the atrocities of modern warfare in a post-nuclear age, space elevators, pure mathematics and mankind's first contact with extra-terrestrials.

From Arthur C. Clarke, the brilliant mind that brought us 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Stephen Baxter, one of the most cogent SF writers of his generation, comes a novel of a day, not so far in the future, when the barriers of time and distance have suddenly turned to glass.

When a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses cutting-edge physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times--around every corner, through every wall--the result is the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy, forever. Then the same technology proves able to look backward in time as well. The Light of Other Days is a story that will change your view of what it is to be human.

Over the last thirty years I have written about a hundred short stories, in such varied locales as wartime RAF camps, islands on the Great Barrier Reef, New York hotels, Miami apartments, London suburbs, transatlantic liners, and Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. They have appeared in magazines ranging from Astounding Stories to Vogue, from Galaxy to Playboy, and since 1953 have been published in the five collections: Expedition to Earth, Reach for Tomorrow, Tales from the "White Hart," The Other Side of the Sky, and Tales of Ten Worlds. In addition, these stories have appeared in various combinations with six novels in the anthologies Across the Sea of Stars, From the Ocean, From the Stars, and Prelude to Mars. This is all very satisfying, but for some time I have felt the need for a single volume containing the stories which I like best.

Every author must have his favorite stories, though he would often be hard put to give reasons for his preferences. Sometimes these may be completely illogical - or at least unliterary. A story written at a time and place associated with pleasant memories may be more highly rated, in retrospect, than a much better tale provoked by unhappiness or penury - the to greatest sponsors or art.

Whether this selection is free from such bias, I have no idea; whatever the reasons may be, these are my favorites.

- Arthur C. Clarke, New York, August 1966

Table of Contents:

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

The Other Side of the Sky presents a glimpse of our future: a future where reality is no longer contained in earthly dimensions, where man has learned to exist with the knowledge that he is not alone in the universe. These stories of other planets and galactic adventures show Arthur C. Clarke at the peak of his powers: sometimes disturbing, always intriguing.

Contents:

• 7 - Bibliographical Note (The Other Side of the Sky) - (1958) - essay
• 11 - The Nine Billion Names of God - (1953) - shortstory
• 17 - Refugee - (1955) - shortstory
• 28 - Special Delivery - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 31 - Feathered Friend - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 33 - Take a Deep Breath - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 36 - Freedom of Space - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 39 - Passer-By - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 42 - The Call of the Stars - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - shortstory
• 45 - The Wall of Darkness - (1949) - shortstory
• 61 - Security Check - (1956) - shortstory
• 65 - No Morning After - (1954) - shortstory
• 71 - The Starting Line - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 74 - Robin Hood, F.R.S. - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 78 - Green Fingers - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 82 - All That Glitters - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 85 - Watch This Space - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 89 - A Question of Residence - [Venture to the Moon] - (1956) - shortstory
• 94 - Publicity Campaign - (1953) - shortstory
• 98 - All the Time in the World - (1952) - shortstory
• 109 - Cosmic Casanova - (1958) - shortstory
• 115 - The Star - (1955) - shortstory
• 121 - Out of the Sun - (1958) - shortstory
• 128 - Transience - (1949) - shortstory
• 133 - The Songs of Distant Earth - (1958) - novelette

Arthur C. Clarke's "The Road to the Sea" was first published in the spring 1951 issue of Two Complete Science-Adventure Books as "Seeker of the Sphinx". It was later collected in Tales of Ten Worlds (1962) and The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2000).

The best collection ever of Arthur C. Clarke's short fiction, including the stories on which 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End were based. The Sentinel is a magnificent retrospective showcase of Arthur C. Clarke's finest shorter fiction. Spanning four decades of writing, this book includes many gems of a genius at the height of his powers. The title piece is the story that inspired 2001. 'Guardian Angel' is a rarely anthologised work that gave birth to Childhood's End, and 'The Songs of Distant Earth' is the original version of Clarke's own favourite novel. Along with other vaulting tales of imagination are fascinating introductions telling the history of each story from conception to completion. From one of the greatest science-fiction writers of all time. The Sentinel is one of those all-too-few collections that must be read, re-read, then treasured.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Of Sand and Stars - essay
• Rescue Party - (1946) - novelette
• Guardian Angel - (1950) - novelette
• Breaking Strain - (1949) - novelette
• The Sentinel - (1951) - shortstory
• Jupiter V - (1953) - novelette
• Refugee - (1955) - shortstory
• The Wind from the Sun - (1964) - novelette
• A Meeting With Medusa - (1971) - novelette
• The Songs of Distant Earth - (1981) - shortstory

This short story originally appeared in Playboy, August 1964. It can also be found in the anthology 10th Annual Edition: The Year's Best S-F (1965), edited by Judith Merril. The story is included in the collections The Wind from the Sun: Stories of the Space Age (1972) and The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2000).

Read the full story for free at the Baen website.

Thalassa was a paradise above the earth. Its beauty and vast resources seduce its inhabitants into a feeling of perfection. But then the Magellan arrives, carrying with it one million refugees from the last mad days of earth. Paradise looks indeed lost....

Hugo Award winning short story. It originally appeared in Infinity Science Fiction, November 1955. The story has been reprinted many times. It can be found in the anthologies:

• A Century of Science Fiction (1962), edited by Damon Knight
• The Hugo Winners, Volume 1: (1955-61) (1963), edited by Isaac Asimov
• Science Fiction for People Who Hate Science Fiction (1966), edited by Terry Carr
• Modern Science Fiction (1974), edited by Norman Spinrad
• Decade: The 1950s (1976) edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison
• Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories (1979), edited by Eric S. Rabkin
• New Stories from the Twilight Zone (1991), edited by Martin H. Greenberg
• The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
• The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 2 (2000), edited by Frederik Pohl
• Galileo's Children: Tales Of Science vs. Superstition (2005) edited by Gardner Dozois
• The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

It is included in the collections The Other Side of the Sky (1958), The Nine Billion Names of God (1967) and The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2000).

In the middle of the 21st century, a team of scientists develops the ultimate protective weapon-a device that causes all nitrate-based bombs and explosives nearby to detonate automatically. It seems like a benevolent invention-one that will protect mankind against weapons of mass destruction. But as the scientists struggle to ensure their invention is used only for peaceful purposes, it becomes increasingly clear that even protective weaponry comes with its own moral trade-offs.

Dr. Jeffrey Horton, the device's lead inventor, must fight to keep the weapon out of violent hands-and soon finds that not even those with the best intentions can be trusted. This riveting story of action, suspense, and science is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat-and turning the page.

A new collection from the author who brough us 2001, a Space Odyssey.

Contents:

• Preface (The Wind from the Sun) - (1972) - essay
• The Food of the Gods - (1964) - shortstory
• Maelstrom II - (1965) - shortstory
• The Shining Ones - (1964) - shortstory
• The Wind from the Sun - (1964) - novelette
• The Secret - (1963) - shortstory
• The Last Command - (1965) - shortstory
• Dial F for Frankenstein - (1965) - shortstory
• Reunion - (1971) - shortstory
• Playback - (1966) - shortstory
• The Light of Darkness - (1966) - shortstory
• The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told - (1966) - shortstory
• Herbert George Morley Roberts Wells, Esq. - [Editorial (If)] - (1967) - essay
• Love That Universe - (1961) - shortstory
• Crusade - (1968) - shortstory
• The Cruel Sky - (1967) - shortstory
• Neutron Tide - (1970) - shortstory
• Transit of Earth - (1971) - shortstory
• A Meeting With Medusa - (1971) - novelette

Anthology of classic science fiction stories, each representing a different branch of science. Clarke's book remains a highly regarded favorite and remains an excellent introduction to the genre for young people. Each author contributes a short essay about his story.

Table of Contents:

• vii - Science and Science Fiction - (1966) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• 4 - "--And He Built a Crooked House" - (1941) - novelette by Robert A. Heinlein
• 27 - The Wabbler - (1942) - short story by Murray Leinster
• 37 - The Weather Man - (1962) - novella by Theodore L. Thomas
• 76 - The Artifact Business - (1957) - short story by Robert Silverberg
• 90 - Grandpa - [The Hub] - (1955) - novelette by James H. Schmitz
• 117 - Not Final! - [Jovians - 1] - (1941) - short story by Isaac Asimov
• 137 - The Little Black Bag - (1950) - novelette by C. M. Kornbluth
• 168 - The Blindness - (1946) - novelette by R. S. Richardson [as by Philip Latham]
• 194 - Take a Deep Breath - [The Other Side of the Sky] - (1957) - short story by Arthur C. Clarke
• 198 - The Potters of Firsk - (1950) - short story by Jack Vance
• 219 - The Tissue-Culture King - (1926) - novelette by Julian Huxley

Here is the compelling story of the launching of Prometheus -- Earth's first true spaceship -- and of the men who made it happen.

Dirk Alexson:
Chronicler of the greatest space adventure of all time, he was chosen to immortalize the incredible story of the men and their heroic mission.

Sir Robert Derwent:
Direct-General of Interplanetary -- London Headquarters for the international space-flight project -- he was the man who got the mission off the ground and into the pages of history.

Professor Maxton:
The world's leading atomic engineer, he designed the huge ship's drive units and he waited with the rest of the world to see if the project would be a success.

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits -- just behind a Raman airlock door.

Years ago, the enormous, enigmatic alien spacecraft called Rama sailed through our solar system as mind-boggling proof that life existed -- or had existed -- elsewhere in the universe. Now, at the dawn of the twenty-third century, another ship is discovered hurtling toward us. A crew of Earth's best and brightest minds is assembled to rendezvous with the massive vessel. They are armed with everything we know about Raman technology and culture. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to encounter on board Rama II: cosmic secrets that are startling, sensational -- and perhaps even deadly.

In the year 2130 a mysterious spaceship, Rama, arrived in the solar system. It was huge, but empty - apparently abandoned. By the time Rama departed for its next unknown destination many wonders had been uncovered, but few mysteries solved. Only one thing was clear: everything the enigmatic builders of Rama did, they did in threes.

Eighty years later the second alien craft arrived in the solar system. This time, Earth had been waiting. Now Rama II is on its way out of the solar system. Aboard it are three humans, two men and a woman, left behind when the expedition departed. Ahead of them lies the unknown, a voyage no human has ever experienced; and at the end of it may lie the truth about Rama.

Years after the appearance in the solar system of the immense, deserted spaceship, Rama, a second craft arrived, destined to become home for a group of human colonists. But now the colony has become a brutal dictatorship, terrorizing its own inhabitants. Nicole Wakefield, condemned to death for treason, has escaped to New York. There she is reunited with her husband, but pursuit is not far behind and they are forced to flee to the subterranean corridors of New York inhabited by the menacing octospiders. So begins the greatest adventure of the Rama cycle, a story of massive scope and extraordinary revelations.

On the moon, an enigma is uncovered. So great are the implications of the discovery that, for the first time, men are sent out deep into the solar system. But before they can reach their destination, things begin to go wrong. Horribly wrong.

Nine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft *to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong... and what became of Commander Dave Bowman.

Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter.

Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave Bowman *the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith *streaks toward Earth on a vital mission of its own...

Fifty years after meeting the spirit of Dave Bowman aboard the abandoned Discovery and witnessing the fiery transformation of Jupiter into Earths second sun, 103-year-old Dr. Heywood Floyd boards the luxury spaceship Universe for the historic first landing on the surface of Halley's Comet.

At the same time, the Galaxy expedition sets out to probe the evolutionary upheaval on Jupiter's former moon Europa haunted by the fate of a doomed Chinese mission and by the ominous message from space: "All these worlds are yours *except Europa. Attempt no landings there. "

As the stranded Galaxy awaits rescue on the dangerous and forbidden surface of Europa and Universe races to her aid, the omniscient force that is Dave Bowman watches *and waits to reveal the extraordinary secrets of the monoliths, of the masters he now serves, and of mankind's ultimate role in the course of cosmic history . . .

One thousand years after the Jupiter mission to explore the mysterious Monolith had been destroyed, after Dave Bowman was transformed into the Star Child, Frank Poole drifted in space, frozen and forgotten, leaving the supercomputer HAL inoperable. But now Poole has returned to life, awakening in a world far different from the one he left behind--and just as the Monolith may be stirring once again . . .

Living in the 10-billion-year-old city of Diaspar, Alvin is the last child born of humanity. He is intensely curious about the outside world. According to the oldest histories kept by the city fathers, however, there is no outside world-it was destroyed by the Invaders millions of years ago.

One day, Alvin finds a rock with an inscription seemingly meant for him: "There is a better way. Give my greetings to the Keeper of the Records. Alaine of Lyndar." This cryptic message takes Alvin on a quest to discover humanity's true past-and its future.

Originally published in the November 1948 issue of Startling Stories, Against the Fall of Night is a rich and intensely poetic vision of a distant future that's sure to delight fans of Clarke and science fiction as a genre.

A revised and expanded version of the novel was published by Clarke in 1956 as The City and the Stars.

Hundreds of years after the events in Against the Fall of Night, Alvin and Seranis are working to repopulate the Earth with original species resurrected from a library of ancient genetic information. Among these resurrected beings is Cley, a Cro-Magnon and sole survivor of her tribe. Cley joins forces with Alvin and a large, intelligent rodent named Seeker to eliminate the threat from the Mad Mind once and for all-and clear the way for life in the Solar System to thrive.

Comprised of all the short fiction Nebula Award winners for 1966-1970 - the first five years of the award.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1981) - essay by Arthur C. Clarke
• "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman - (1965) - shortstory by Harlan Ellison
• The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth - (1965) - novelette by Roger Zelazny
• The Saliva Tree - (1965) - novella by Brian W. Aldiss
• He Who Shapes - (1965) - novella by Roger Zelazny
• The Secret Place - (1966) - shortstory by Richard McKenna
• Call Him Lord - (1966) - novelette by Gordon R. Dickson
• The Last Castle - (1966) - novella by Jack Vance
• Aye, and Gomorrah... - (1967) - shortstory by Samuel R. Delany
• Gonna Roll the Bones - (1967) - novelette by Fritz Leiber
• Behold the Man - (1966) - novella by Michael Moorcock
• The Planners - (1968) - shortstory by Kate Wilhelm
• Mother to the World - (1968) - novelette by Richard Wilson
• Dragonrider - (1967) - novella by Anne McCaffrey
• Passengers - (1968) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones - (1968) - novelette by Samuel R. Delany
• A Boy and His Dog - (1969) - novella by Harlan Ellison

For eons, Earth has been under observation by the Firstborn, beings almost as old as the universe itself. The Firstborn are unknown to humankind -- until they act. In an instant, Earth is carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single timeline. Instead, the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants.

Scattered across the planet are floating silver orbs impervious to all weapons and impossible to communicate with. Are these technologically advanced devices responsible for creating and sustaining the rifts in time? Are they cameras through which inscrutable alien eyes are watching? Or are they something stranger and more terrifying still?

The answer may lie in the ancient city of Babylon, where two groups of refugees from 2037 -- three cosmonauts returning to Earth from the International Space Station, and three United Nations peacekeepers on a mission in Afghanistan -- have detected radio signals: the only such signals on the planet, apart from their own. The peacekeepers find allies in nineteenth-century British troops and in the armies of Alexander the Great. The astronauts, crash-landed in the steppes of Asia, join forces with the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan. The two sides set out for Babylon, each determined to win the race for knowledge... and the power that lies within.

Yet the real power is beyond human control, perhaps even human understanding. As two great armies face off before the gates of Babylon, it watches, waiting....

Returned to the Earth of 2037 by the Firstborn, mysterious beings of almost limitless technological prowess, Bisesa Dutt is haunted by the memories of her five years spent on the strange alternate Earth called Mir, a jigsaw-puzzle world made up of lands and people cut out of different eras of Earth's history. Why did the Firstborn create Mir? Why was Bisesa taken there and then brought back on the day after her original disappearance?

Bisesa's questions receive a chilling answer when scientists discover an anomaly in the sun's core--an anomaly that has no natural cause is evidence of alien intervention over two thousand years before. Now plans set in motion millennia ago by inscrutable watchers light-years away are coming to fruition in a sunstorm designed to scour the Earth of all life in a bombardment of deadly radiation.

Thus commences a furious race against a ticking solar time bomb. But even now, as apocalypse looms, cooperation is not easy for the peoples and nations of the Earth. Religious and political differences threaten to undermine every effort.

And all the while, the Firstborn are watching...

The Firstborn -- the mysterious race of aliens who first became known to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey -- have inhabited legendary master of science fiction Sir Arthur C. Clarke's writing for decades. With Time's Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in their acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and his brilliant co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic.

Their first act was the Discontinuity, in which Earth was carved into sections from different eras of history, restitched into a patchwork world, and renamed Mir. Mir's inhabitants included such notables as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and United Nations peacekeeper Bisesa Dutt. For reasons unknown to her, Bisesa entered into communication with an alien artifact of inscrutable purpose and godlike power--a power that eventually returned her to Earth. There, she played an instrumental role in humanity's race against time to stop a doomsday event: a massive solar storm triggered by the alien Firstborn designed to eradicate all life from the planet. That fate was averted at an inconceivable price. Now, twenty-seven years later, the Firstborn are back.

This time, they are pulling no punches: They have sent a "quantum bomb." Speeding toward Earth, it is a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, that cannot be stopped or destroyed--and one that will obliterate Earth.

Bisesa's desperate quest for answers sends her first to Mars and then to Mir, which is itself threatened with extinction. The end seems inevitable. But as shocking new insights emerge into the nature of the Firstborn and their chilling plans for mankind, an unexpected ally appears from light-years away.

A Meeting With Medusa:

In leading an expedition through the many-layered Jovian atmosphere in the hydrogen balloon craft Kon-Tiki, Captain Howard Falcon discovers a world where bioluminescent air plankton produce brilliant atmospheric sea-fire, predatory manta-ray creatures dominate the skies, and enormous jellyfish-like beings grow to be over a mile across.

Green Mars:

This is the original Novella that starts Robinson's Mars exploration and not the book of the same name.

This work is centered around climbing Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain on Mars (and the rest of the solar system).