Classic book of essays by Clarke, originally written in 1962 mostly for Playboy, and updated by him in 1999 - so the first edition was written when he was a little older than I am now, and the revision when he was 82; will I be reviewing old blog posts for republication in 2049? It is all good solid stuff about the future of technology and space ( Read more... )

Came home last night to find the internet on the blink, so went to bed early and missed the news that everyone has been blogging about. Well, he created our world in so many ways: I loved his early short stories, I loved his mid-period novels, and I forgave the later collaborations. Sometimes his wit could baffle translators, but his compassionate ( Read more... )

Just spent a half hour listening to last week's BBC Radio documentary about Arthur C Clarke. Summary here, Real Audio recording here. Fascinating stuff; Heather Couper goes to Sri Lanka to interview him on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his Wireless World paper, "Extraterrestrial "Relays", which paved the way for communications satellites ( Read more... )

8) Imperial Earth: A Fantasy of Love and Discord, by Arthur C. Clarke

I got this post-Worldcon in a second-hand bookshop, prompted partly by my current run of re-reading novels I enjoyed as a teenager and partly also by a discussion provoked by rfmcdpei about a month ago. This was one of my favourite Clarke novels then, and I felt it held up pretty well ( Read more... )

My German collection of Arthur C. Clarke stories, Ein Treffen Mit Medusa, contains one of the most unintentionally funny editorial comments I have ever encountered. Editor and translator Michael Nagula, attempting to explain the punchline of "Neutronenflut" ("Neutron Tide") to the puzzled German reader, tells us: Ihr besonderer Witz rührt vom ( Read more... )

7) Reach for Tomorrow, by Arthur C. Clarke

A dozen vintage Clarke short stories from the early years of his career (1945-1953). More than half I already knew - I see that "A Walk in the Dark", "Rescue Party", "The Curse", and "The Possessed" were also in The Nine Billion Names of God, and "Trouble with the Natives", "The Forgotten Enemy" and "The ( Read more... )

15) Tomorrow's Worlds: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, ed. Robert Silverberg ( Read more... )