Short Fiction Month: The Star - Arthur C. Clarke

For the next stop in short fiction month I selected an older story. The Star by Arthur C. Clarke was published in 1955 and won one of the first Hugo Awards for short stories. It has been reprinted many times and remains one of his best known short stories. For a story that is more than 60 years old, it aged remarkably well. It is not a story that is carried by a big idea, technology or science but rather by what a particular discovery does to a scientist. I would not be surprised if it worked just as well a century from now.

The story is the account of a Jesuit priest and scientist on the way back from a scientific investigation of a solar system that went nova some time in the distant past. What he finds there shakes his belief in god to the very core.

Pretty much all of the work I have read by Clarke (a dozen novels) has a distinct optimistic quality to it. This story does not. It pretty much radiated despair. The main character wants to cling to his belief but in the end has to settle for a truthful account of his findings. One might say the scientist overrules the priest here. While science and technology is often equated with progress in Clarke's stories, in The Star it breaks something in the main character.

Clarke himself had an interesting relationship with religion. He appears to have been fascinated by the concept of god - just look at the titles of some of his stories -  but was also clearly an atheist. This story reminded me of a quote from Clarke's novel, The Fountain of Paradise (1979) in which an alien entity comments on the idea of god as follows:

The hypothesis you refer to as God, though not disprovable by logic alone, is unnecessary for the following reason. If  you assume that the universe can be quote explained unquote as the  creation of an entity known as God, he must be of an higher degree of  organisation than his product. Thus you have more than doubled the size of the original problem, and have taken the first  step on a diverging infinite regress. William of Ockham pointed out as  early as your fourteenth century that entities should not be multiplied  unnecessary. I cannot therefore understand why this debate continues.

Chapter 16 - Conversations with the Stargilider

Back then, I wondered what William of Ockham would have made of that, but I guess the same goes for this unfortunate priest. Clarke put religion under the bright light of scientific research and did not like what he saw. This story is perhaps the most merciless dismissal of human attempts to give meaning to life, the existence of the universe and random natural events.

The Star is a story that packs a good punch. It is easy to see why someone who wrote such elegant stories in a time when a lot of science fiction was barely past the pulp stage, would have been considered one of the big writers in the genre. It is worth reading, not just because it aged gracefully, but also because it shows the darker side of the writing of a man known for his optimistic work.

Story Details
Title: The Star
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Language: English
Originally published: Infinity Science Fiction, November 1955
Read in: The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
Story length: short story, approximately 2,500 words
Awards: Hugo Award winner
Available online: King's College London

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke

This novel is probably one of the best known and most read science fiction novels of all time. Its connection with the Stanley Kubrick movie of the same name helped lift it to a popularity that novel would not have reached otherwise. I'm not entirely sure the same is true for the movie  but it has to be said that they probably work better combined than each of them do individually. The novel and movie complement each other in a unique way. In part, this probably has to do with the way they were created simultaneously, with the movie eventually being released a few months before the novel. There is a fascinating contrast between Clarke's clear, direct prose and Kubrick's poetic and ultimately trippy cinematography. Personally I think it is virtually impossible to understand the movie without having read the novel.

The novel is written in six parts detailing the intervention of an alien species in the evolution of humanity. The story begins three million years ago, when a strange monolith is discovered by a group of starving early Homindae. Given the knowledge of human evolution at the time, Clarke probably had Homo Habilis in mind. The aliens set the human species on the path of developing tools, enabling them to hunt and add meat to their to that point meagre diet and defend themselves from predators. It sets the species on the path towards technology. The aliens do not stick around to see the result of their experiment. Instead, they set an alarm, one that humanity cannot fail to set off if they reach a sufficiently high level of technology. In the year 2001, it is discovered on the far side of the moon. We are no longer alone in the universe.

2001: A Space Odyssey was published in 1968 and like pretty much any science fiction novel of that decade, it is badly dated. This is most apparent in the Primeval Night section, set three million years ago. This part of the story borrows the concept from his short story Encounter in the Dawn which was published in 1953. Our knowledge of human evolution has increased tremendously in the last half century, creating a much more detailed picture of the human family tree, as well as their environment, diet and other aspects of their ecology. A modern anthropologist would shred the opening of the novel to pieces. The implication that cognition is so rare that Earth needed a nudge to develop it is interesting though. Makes you wonder where, in Clarke's story, we would have ended up without it.

Soon Clarke moves into more familiar territory: the future seen from 1968. Part of the story is inspired by another one of Clarke's short pieces, The Sentinel written in 1948. He misses his guess on a number of social and political developments in these sections too. Space travel is much more advanced in the novel and human visits to the gas giants are possible in this story. As always there is a meticulous eye for the details of space travel. The difference between weight and mass, the consequences of the absence of gravity, inertia and how all those things impact and complicate getting around in space. This is what Clarke is good at and it is on prominent display in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He even goes so far as to describe how using a toilet in space might be accomplished. It sounds like a bit of an overcomplicated solution to me.

The real star of the show is HAL9000 though, and Kubrick makes excellent use of that in the movie. In a way, Clarke reaches back here to Asimov's stories on artificial intelligence. In his Robot stories he describes several scenarios in which the programming instructions of the Robot appears to conflict and the sometimes unexpected results this can have. HAL9000 is presented a similar problem and he turns the trip into a nightmare for the crew. The movie does a better job of turning HAL into a creepy machine but the book is not far behind. The isolation of the crew and he fact that HAL is the essential in running many parts of the ship create an atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia in this part of the novel. It is Clarke, the eternal optimist when it comes to human ingenuity, warning against the use of technology we do not fully understand.

It's not the only thing Clarke is uncharacteristically pessimistic about. He gets the population of Earth about right but thought we would have trouble feeding that many. In essence, the final part of the story tells us that we once again could use alien intervention. That picture is buried in an almost surreal bit of writing however. Clarke's aliens are alien for sure. It has to be said that Clarke does a few things that are atypical in this book. Perhaps that is the influence Kubrick had on the novel. It does contain many of the flaws found in much of his work though. Characters are completely two-dimensional and there isn't a woman in sight. When the new wave was washing over science fiction, Clarke was for the most part still stuck in big idea stories. Something he would not be able to move beyond in the rest of his career either.

I very much doubt 2001: A Space Odyssey would have been the pinnacle of popularity in Clarke's career without the movie. It is probably telling that while the movie is considered one of the best science fiction movies ever - it even won an Oscar for the best visual effects -  the novel generally does not inspire such praise. It was largely ignored during awards season, a sharp contract to Rendezvous with Rama (1973) which would sweep the awards a few years later. It is an influential work for sure, but the shadow of the movie looms over it. Perhaps the two can't really be fully enjoyed separately. For me at least, the book and the movie work a lot better in tandem. 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of those science fiction novels you have to have read, but in all honesty, it is not the best Clarke has produced.

Book Details
Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 266
Year: 2007
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-85723-664-4
First published: 1968

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

Last week I read Cixin Liu's The Dark Forest and in that novel the influence of Arthur C. Clarke is unmistakable. Since I am waiting for some review copies to arrive at the moment, I thought I'd reread something by  Clarke this week. Rendezvous with Rama was first published in 1973 and won him the BSFA, Nebula, Campbell, Hugo and Locus Awards. It is regarded as one of his masterworks, perhaps only surpassed in popularity by 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Childhood's End (1953). The novel spawned three sequels written in collaboration with Gentry Lee. Which is to say Lee did the writing and Clarke limited himself to reading and editing. I never read any of the sequels, from what I have heard they don't reach the level of the original, but Rendezvous with Rama is something of a favourite of mine.

In the year 2131 astronomers spot a large object entering the solar system. At first they dismiss it as another comet or asteroid but when someone takes a closer look it becomes apparent that the structure is not natural. It is travelling at such a speed that only one ship in the solar system is close enough to intercept the object now christened Rama. The space ship Endeavour, captained by Commander Bill Norton is sent to rendezvous with the strange object and to explore its interior.

When you think about it, the popularity of this novel at the time is a bit peculiar. The New Wave had already washed over the genre but Clarke's writing was still firmly founded in the golden age. His grasp of physics and mathematics is impressive but his attention to characterisation is minimal, his prose straightforward and interest in anything other than the natural sciences limited. Clarke's early work may have had some spiritual undertone, by the time he wrote this novel, his work is mostly rational. You could even say that there is not much of a  plot to  Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke pretty much tells us what the expedition sees on Rama, how they overcome several technical problems and adds a bit of speculation on the builders of the object. It is all very simple in a way. Maybe even deceptively simple.

Rendezvous with Rama is a quintessential Big Dumb Object novel. What it excels at is achieving a sense of wonder in the reader. Although opinions on what this phrase actually means differ, it is something of a holy grail for golden age science fiction. In this novel, written many years after the end of this period in the history of science fiction, Clarke manages to make it tangible. The descriptions of Rama, aided by the clarity of the prose, will have the reader in awe. The sheer scale of the object is described in a way to make the reader feel insignificant In fact, Rendezvous with Rama is probably the only novel I've ever read that manages to make the reader experience vertigo.

The novel humbles the reader in another way as well. Although Rama clearly has a purpose in the solar system, it is entirely uninterested in humanity. It doesn't attempt to communicate or to investigate. It just does what it planned to do and moves on. After being the centre of the universe for all of history, humanity is relegated to a footnote. They can stand and watch in awe, they can speculate and investigate, but they can't match Rama's feats. Clarke goes to far as to make humanity look petty when the Mercurians authorities take it upon themselves to attempt to destroy what they don't understand. In this way, it expresses an idea that couldn't be further removed from the one that is the crux of The Dark Forest. Liu at the same time admires him and portrays his vision on extraterrestrial life as naive.

One surprising aspect of the novel is the humour Clarke has put into it. When the true nature of Rama becomes apparent, a council is set up to guide the expedition to the object. He uses it to mock scientists and politicians alike. In the council the process of science takes a back seat and petty politics take over. Clarke observes these proceedings with a kind of wry amusement. However much human society will change in the future, he doesn't have high hopes in this area it would seem.

The spectacular views Clarke offers, combined with today's technology could make this story into a visually spectacular movie. It has been optioned in the past and Morgan Freeman has expressed interest in making Rendezvous with Rama into a movie. It hasn't happened yet and as far as I can tell it is firmly stuck in development hell. Apparently there isn't even a script yet. Probably, someday, there will be a movie but it might be a bit of a wait.

I'm unreasonably fond of this novel. It is something of a throwback to an earlier age of science fiction, published in a time when the genre had already moved on to other, and in my opinion more interesting, things. The portrayal of future society seems simplistic, the characterisation practically non-existent, and the story arc lacks a clear climax. The list of flaws in this novel is long. And yet, it does one thing so supremely well that all these flaws recede into the background when reading it. Ill-defined as the much looked for sense of wonder may be, Clarke nailed it in this novel. Rendezvous with Rama is not Clarke's best novel, nor his most interesting but, it will remain a favourite of mine.

Book Details
Title: Rendezvous with Rama
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Gpllancz
Pages: 252
Year: 2006
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-575-07733-1
First published: 1973

A Fall of Moondust - Arthur C. Clarke

I've been reading Clarke for a couple of years now and I must admit I am beginning to develop a real appreciation for his work. Not all of them are equally strong of course, but he as written works that clearly are masterpieces of the genre. Apparently the publishers of the SF Masterworks series agree with me. He has no less than five titles in the list, of which A Fall of Moondust (1961) is the fourth I have read. It is one of the novels he wrote before the publication of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a novel that is something of a watershed in his career. It is a hard science fiction novel, and more than fifty years after it's publication, it a bit dated. Still, the basic story holds up very well. What sets this novel apart from other works by this author is the building of tension. I haven't come across Clarke managing quite this level of suspense yet in the novels I've read.

Sometime in the twenty-first century humanity has colonized the Moon and is rapidly on its was to building a life off planet. The Moon even has become something of a tourist attraction. One sight that is quite popular is a cruise across the Sea of Thirst, a basin filled with very fine dust grains, weathered away from the Moon's rocky surface by the merciless temperature changes on the surface. In the absence of air, it haves like a powder in some ways and a liquid in others. When the Selene, the vehicle travelling this unique sea, disappears beneath the surface during a Moon quake, a race against the clock starts to get the passengers and crew out in time. A formidable technical challenge, given the hostile environment and the peculiar medium that swallowed the Selene.

In a way, this novel is not much different than a number of others Clarke has written. Finding a technical solution for the challenges posed by space is far more interesting than the characters to him. And it must be said, Clarke has set himself a serious challenge. As he explains in the 1987 foreword to the novel, it was written before mankind has set foot on the Moon, and one of the worries back then, was that seas of fine powder might indeed exist and even be capable of swallowing spacecraft. I must admit the explanation on the forces that make this stuff flow and collect in low places is a bit beyond me but apparently it was considered plausible back then and it is not ruled out that the static electricity described in the novel might indeed work elsewhere in the solar system. If these seas really exist, they haven't been found on the surface of the Moon but they certainly make good material for a science fiction novel.

In the early stages of the novel, the sense of wonder dominates the story. Clarke describes the Moon in detail, in a style that reminded me of Kim Stanley Robinson's descriptions of Mars, although it must be said that Clarke is much more concise. Once the Selene goes down we switch to technical mode though. The author has clearly thought about all the things that can go wrong in a pressurized ship buried under a thick layer of dust. One system after another is put to uses they were never designed for and Clarke clearly gave a lot of thought about what could go wrong under such circumstances. He is clearly not unfamiliar with Murphy's law.

Another big part of the novel, and one that is much more interesting given the rest of Clarke's oeuvre, is the way he goes about describing the attempts to maintain morale. It is vitally important not to have anyone crack if you are buried under tonnes of dust, in a pressurized cabin that is not meant to house people indefinitely of course. I thought the way Clarke went about it was more fitting for a 1940 air raid shelter somewhere in London than a spacecraft though. A somewhat old fashioned British mentality seems to have taken over the company despite its members being from all corners of the world. Nevertheless, the cracks that begin to appear are dangerous enough and the psychological pressure on the people caught on board the Selene is real enough. It induces the kind of claustrophobia that space shares with submarines.

Clarke doesn't ramp up the psychological pressure all the way in the end. The climax of the novel is again technological. The stresses on the poor Selene cannot be held at bay indefinitely after all. It is a shame really, Clarke could probably have done a bit more with the company inside the Selene. That would have required a finer characterization than I have seen Clarke employ though. I guess the omniscient narration would have clashed with an attempt to increase the psychological pressure as well. I think this narrative mode isn't doing the story any favours as it is, especially early on in the novel. Clarke uses it at the end of chapters to end with a cliffhanger. It is unnecessary to the point of being annoying really. Even the least observant reader will understand things are not going according to plan without being told repeatedly.

Those minor quibbles don't take anything away from the fact that A Fall of Moondust is a very entertaining read. I guess you need a bit of a taste for hard science fiction to really enjoy this novel, but it is not a technical or on such a grand scale as some of Clarke's other works. Some readers may even feel it lacks the scope of some his other novels, Rendezvous with Rama (1973) comes to mind, or the sheer scale of some of the other engineering projects he describes, for instance in The Fountains of Paradise (1979). A Fall of Moondust is not as ambitious, nor perhaps as original, as some of his other books, but is a well written story that will keep the reader turning pages. Clarke manages to create a feeling of urgency that is hard to ignore. It is not among the very best of what Clarke has written but certainly not far behind. If you liked his other novels, this one won't disappoint.

Book Details
Title: A Fall of Moondust
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 224
Year: 2002
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-575-07317-3
First published: 1961

Prelude to Space - Arthur C. Clarke

Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke is my second read in the 2012 WWEnd Grandmaster Reading challenge. Last month I read Poul Anderson's Tau Zero (1970), which is one Anderson's better known novels. For my second read I picked something a little less high profile. Prelude to Space is the first novel Arthur C. Clarke wrote and is generally not considered as good as Childhood's End (1953), probably the most famous of Clarke's early novels. The publication history of this story is not unusual for the period. Clarke wrote the novel in the space of a month in 1947 but it wasn't until 1951 that the whole novel was published in magazine format by Galaxy Science Fiction. It was followed by a hardcover edition in 1953. What is atypical about it, is that the novel does not appear to be based on one of Clarke's short stories. Although one of Clarke's lesser works, it has been reprinted numerous times. The edition I have read was printed in 1977 and includes a "Post Apollo Preface", as Clarke himself puts it, written in 1969.

In the year 1978 humanity is ready to for the next step in exploration, the first manned mission to the Moon about the leave Earth. Historian Drik Alexson is sent to London, where the headquarters of Interplanetary, the non-profit organization coordinating the mission, is located. He is to document the event, that will no doubt be considered one of the turning points in human history. Although Alexson is supposed to be an impartial observer, he can't help but by swept away by the magnitude of the effort and the impact it will have on human society. As the launch date nears, Alexson realizes that this event will be his life's work as a historian.

Although science fiction is much more about exploring ideas and what they might mean to society than actually predicting the future, seeing how many details Clarke got wrong in this novel is still almost as interesting as the story itself. Where Clarke goes for private enterprise as the driving factor and assumes the memory of Second World War will change the way people see armed conflict, in reality is was the tension between East and West that gave space exploration a huge boost. The need for the US to prove it could outdo their Soviet rivals resulted in a moon landing nine years before the one Clarke describes, using very different rockets to get there. Many of Clarke's novels describe futures where science, logic and reason triumphs over the petty squabbles, religious dogmas and ideological differences to achieve a peaceful and stable way of running the planet. In Prelude to Space this is treated as inevitable. Would that Clarke had been right on that point.

Another thing that struck me about Clarke's scenario is the use of atomic energy to power these rockets. These days, radioactivity makes people very nervous, and rightly so as recent events in Fukushima have shown us. Some horrendous experiments were carried out testing nuclear devices in the 1950s, clearly showing that the long term impact of radioactive substances released into he environment was still very poorly understood at the time this novel was written. The radioactivity around the launch site in the Australian desert is mentioned several times but not considered a matter of great concern. It might be technically possible to limit the risk of radioactive contamination, even in the event of a launch failure, but somehow I think it be very hard to convince the general public that it'd be safe these days.

Clarke's futures are generally pretty optimistic, sometimes even utopian, and this novel is no exception. Prelude to Space is something of a cross between a love letter to and an advertisement for space exploration. Clarke carefully connects the historical desire to travel to the stars, early science fiction and lots of technological developments, all leading to this one momentous occasion. The moment when humanity will finally leave its cradle and first set foot on a strange world. A first step on a path from which there will be no turning back. Where that path will lead, Clarke doesn't dare predict but he seems to be quite sure it is one we must take to ensure survival of the species. The author may overdo it a little in the text but his enthusiasm is contagious. It was almost enough to make me wonder why the hell we are not on our way to Mars already.

This is the tenth novel by Clarke I have read, spanning his entire career, and from those is seems obvious that Clarke didn't change his approach to writing a whole lot during his seven decades as a published author. Some sections of the novel are highly technical, with the science of space travel the main character. Alexson is the vehicle that allows Clarke to show the events leading up to the launch from up close, but he seems to have very little interest in the man himself (perhaps not altogether surprising, he strikes me as a bright but not very interesting fellow). You don't read Clarke for his well rounded characters or complex plots but for the hard science and Clarke's visions of what they may mean for future society.

Sixty-five years after it was written Prelude to Space is badly dated in just about every aspect of the story. From the technical developments to the blatant sexism that plagued science fiction in those days. On top of that, Clarke wrote a novel that reads like propaganda for a space program. It is very effective propaganda though. Despite all the novel's flaws, you can't help but be caught up in the excitement of the enterprise and the possibilities of space travel, many of which still haven't been realized. Clarke's optimism has been proven unfounded in some ways but the drive to explore space is still there. This novel might well have been an inspiration to some teenager in the 1950s to pursue a career in physics or astronomy. Clarke has gone on to write more challenging novels but for a debut, it's a decent read.

Book Details
Title: Prelude to Space
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: New English Library
Pages: 176
Year: 1977
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: unknown
First published: 1951

The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke

After his hugely succesful novel Rendezvous with Rama (1973), The Fountains of Paradise (1979) is the second novel of Arthur C. Clarke to win the Hugo and Nebula double. It is also something of a dividing line in Clarke's oeuvre. Most of his output after The Fountains of Paradise are considered lesser novels and a lot of them were co-written by other authors. The majority of novels by Clarke I have read were written after this one and I must admit, in terms of characterization they are poor. The plot of his final novel The Last Theorem, co-written by Frederik Pohl, also left something to be desired. I don't think he ever lost his touch when it comes to describing technical details of space travel or impressive feats of engineering. The Fountains of Paradise may not be the strongest novel ever to win a Hugo or Nebula, but it certainly contains those elements in abundance.

With the invention of new super strong materials, new possibilities in architecture and engineering arise. After completing a bridge across the strait of Gibraltar. Dr. Vannevar Morgan is looking for a new challenge. One that will ensure his place in the history books: the construction of a space elevator. It is basically a long cable tethered to a counterweight beyond the geostationary orbit, that could be used to transport people and material out of the Earth's gravity well without the use of inefficient and polluting rocket propelled launch vehicles. The tensile strength of the material must be enormous and on top of the engineering challenges, the ideal location for the Earth end of the cable is already occupied by a group unlikely to move.

I'm not sure if this is the earliest example of a space elevator in literature but I very much doubt it. The first scientific papers on the concept date from the 1960s, I'd be surprised if some science fiction writer hadn't picked such a dramatic proposal up sooner than 1979. Clarke is definitely the man who brought it to a large audience though. He uses it in several books although usually not in as much detail as in this novel. What did strike me was the influence this novel had on Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. The scenario for a space elevator on Mars, with its moon Deimos on one end and the volcano Pavonis Mons on the other, is pretty much exactly as Clarke describes it here, including the problem of Mars' second moon. Robinson does explore what would happen if such a structure were to crash down in detail, a scenario Clarke prefers to leave to the reader's imagination.

As usual with Clarke's novels the consequences of the conditions in space, or in this case the very edge of space are very prominently present in the book. Clarke describes the conditions and challenges of such an environment for engineering and safety of the passengers and people working there. Note the emphasis on human error in some of the scenes. Clarke makes some very astute observations about the potential of the smallest (human) error to cause disasters. In the hostile environment of space, or the upper atmosphere, such problems are very likely to end in the loss of human life. The final pages of the novel are dedicated to such an event and Clarke manages to make it a nerve wracking experience.

Another key element in the novel is the setting. Space elevators need to be located at the equator. For the occasion Clarke chose to move the island of Sri Lanka about 800 kilometres south and make a few other changes to the geography of the place. The historical sites he describes mostly exist as he describes them however and I very much enjoyed these. Clarke's love for this island is no secret but it doesn't always show up in his writing. In The Fountains of Paradise, he certainly made an effort to do some of its cultural heritage justice. Clarke seems to see certain future developments as inevitable.

I don't think there was any doubt in his mind that a space elevator would one day be reality and that colonizing other planets is possible.On social developments he is less outspoken in this novel. Religion is clearly on its way out in this future though. It contains some rather provocative statements on the subject. One that made me smile was attributed to an alien probe passing earth in the twenty-first century:

The hypothesis you refer to as God, though not disprovable by logic alone, is unnecessary for the following reason.
If you assume that the universe can be quote explained unquote as the creation of an entity known as God, he must be of an higher degree of organisation than his product. Thus you have more than doubled the size of the original problem, and have taken the first step on a diverging infinite regress. William of Ockham pointed out as early as your fourteenth century that entities should not be multiplied unnecessary. I cannot therefore understand why this debate continues.

Chapter 16 - Conversations with the Stargilider

I wonder what the monk William of Ockham would have made of that.  

The Fountains of Paradise is an intellectually stimulating novel. I enjoyed reading it very much, in particular for the detail of the construction process on the space elevator. That being said, I'm not sure it is worthy of the awards is won. It contains a lot of stuff that Clarke had done before. Stylistically, Clarke is not a brilliant author and his characters are mostly fairly flat. By 1979 rigid scientific accuracy and a sense of wonder were no longer enough, or sometimes not even necessary, to make a science fiction novel stand out, which makes the choice for a novel that is supported completely by those who things a bit odd. Still, Clarke does what he does very well. For fans of his novels this is definitely not one you'll want to miss.  

Book Details
Title: The Fountains of Paradise
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 257
Year: 2001
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-85798-721-8
First published: 1979

Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke

Time to sample another SF Masterwork. I’ve read a number of Clarke’s other novel but none of them were written before 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). While this novel is by far his most well know work, Clarke is mostly remembered as one of the greats of the golden age of science fiction. I must admit my taste seems to run more to the new wave authors but I haven’t read much golden age science fiction yet, so perhaps it is a bit too soon to make that judgement. Childhood’s End was originally published in 1953 but when history caught up with the original Clarke rewrote part of it. The version that was used for the SF Masterworks edition is the 1990 rewritten version. Gollancz has recently redesigned a number of titles. My version is one of the renewed series and includes an introduction by Adam Roberts. Although many of the golden age science fiction novels are by now very much out of date, I thought it an odd choice to go for the rewritten version but still hail this book as one of the best of the era. Roberts even comments on the slightly awkward fit of the old and new sections.

Mankind has taken its first steps to leave its cradle and has begun to explore space. Before we’re good and well ready for the next major step, an alien species referred to as the Overlords make their presence know. Intellectually and technologically vastly superior to humans, the visitors force human history in another direction. Wars are forbidden, the world is to be unified under one government, poverty, illiteracy and disease are all eradicated. The Overlords seemingly effortless mastery of human society is not uncontested. It soon becomes clear however that resistance is futile. Their technological superiority and the benefits mankind is reaping form these changes are just too much to struggle against. Despite this paradise that is taking shape under the guidance of these benevolent tyrants, doubts remain. What are the true motives of the Overlords? Why won’t they show themselves? And why do they refuse to allow further exploration on space?

Although the book deals with humanity growing up as a species, it must be an uncomfortably read for parents. The Overlords seem to think that after a certain age humans are so stuck in their own patterns and beliefs that it is much more successful to let certain bad habits die out. All religion is considered superstition by the Overlords. There is no factual basis for any of it and they are keenly aware of the profound influence it has on the population. They also believe that education and scientific progress will eventually ensure the removal of this obstacle. That is a bold statement, an arrogant one even. I’m not personally a religious man but my experiences with people who are, are such that no amount of education is going to stop them from believing it whatever it is they choose to accept as the truth. Science as an antidote for religion is not something I believe in. However convenient it would be sometimes.

The gradual disappearance of religion is one element of a process that, as Roberts points out in his introduction, appears in a number of forms in the book. Childhood’s End, the reaching of maturity of one generation, means the end of the (biological) need for the previous one. All that is left is death. Humanity is on the brink of taking the next step in their evolution in this book. For those that are left behind this fact is bitter indeed. The finale of the novel is seen from the point of view of one of those left behind. It is not a cheerful end despite the greater goal that has been achieved. The way in which Clarke ends this novel is very powerful indeed. I'm glad he didn't rewrite that bit.

In typical golden age style, the concept of this novel is much more important that the characters. It is one element in Clarke’s writing that is still present in his later work, long after the genre as a whole has taken a different direction. In a fairly brief novel, Clarke shows us a story that takes over a century though the eyes of quite a view characters. Their part illustrates a key development or represents an idea or current present in society but they are not figures a reader can grow attached to. In between these sections seen through the eyes of these various characters are fairly long stretches about what is going on in the world told to us by a narrator. It is not a style that would survive a critical editor these days, I think Clarke relies on the narrator a bit too much to drive his point home. It has to be said though, the concept is an intriguing one. Clarke takes the time to guide the reader through the process and explain why things are rolling towards their inevitable conclusion. Paradise is not the end of the line, it is the starting point for a new step in our journey.

No doubt there are people who would radically disagree with Clarke’s logic in this novel. Although a lot of it makes perfect sense to me there are a few points where I think he glosses over some of the obstacles in the Overlords’ way a little too easily. The author himself didn’t seem entirely convinced either. Early on in the story he introduces a hint of the supernatural, a plot element that cannot be rationally explained. Scientific explanations and cold logic don’t seem to be enough to take the story where Clarke wants to go. In this light his afterword (written for the 1990 edition) is very interesting. When he wrote the first version of this book, Clarke believed there were things science could not explain. By the time he wrote his afterword he confesses to be an almost complete sceptic. It makes me wonder how he would have written this story later in his career.

Childhood’s End is generally considered to be one of Clarke’s best novels. I have not read enough of his work to say anything sensible about that but it was certainly an interesting read. As with many of his novels, this book is essentially an expanded short story. I wonder if I should try some of Clarke’s short fiction next. In his novels it is blatantly obvious that in terms of prose and characterization Clarke is not, in technical terms, a great writer. His stories are supported by ideas, he tries to dazzle the reader with a clever concept. Perhaps his way of writing is better suited to the short form. If you are interested in golden age science fiction you could certainly do worse than Childhood’s End but this novel is not quite good enough to replace Rendezvous with Rama as my favourite.

Book Details
Title: Childhood's End
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 242
Year: 2010
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-575-08235-9
First published: 1953

The Last Theorem - Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl

In March 2008 one of the titans of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke died at the age of 90. At the time he was working on The Last Theorem, a collaboration with another big name in science fiction, the slightly younger Frederik Pohl. He turned 90 last month. Clarke's health would not permit him to do the writing himself so much of the novel was written by Pohl based on an outline and notes by Clarke. Just a few days before he died, Clarke finished reviewing the manuscript and gave it his blessing. Clarke's last novel got quite a bit of attention when it was released. It also got mixed reviews.

The Last Theorem is the story of the life of Ranjit Subramanian. We follow his life, most of which probably takes place a few decades later in this century, from boyhood to middle age. Ranjit grows up on Sri Lanka as the son of a Hindu priest. His father hopes he will succeed him but Ranjit is obsessed with mathematics. Number theory in particular. He is determined to find the proof the Fermat's last theorem. This theorem states that the Pythagoras' theorem (surely you have heard of it) does not hold true for dimensions higher than two. Fermat left the world a note stating he had found this proof but if he actually did write it down, this proof did not survive him. His last theorem has indeed been proven but not my means which were available to Fermat. It is one of the great riddles of mathematics apparently.

A second part of the story is set well away from earth. Starting with the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert in 1945, the world has detonated something in the neighbourhood of fifteen hundred nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. Each a bright flash of light and radiation clearly visible from space. It has taken a long time for someone to notice but when it happens a reaction is unavoidable. A race referred to as the Grand Galactics takes note of the signals from earth. They are not amused. Their reaction will be swift and severe. It seems the human races only has a few decades left.

Now before you all decide to avoid this book like the plague because it has math in it, which in itself is a very understandable reflex, let me assure you that the mathematical side of the story is not that challenging. The authors did not attempt to find Fermat's proof themselves in this book. They do describe some number tricks and general concepts but nothing too complicated. I thought what the authors do show was quite entertaining.There's a fair bit of other science in the book as well of course. It contains just about every concept Clarke has used in his earlier books and most likely a reference to himself as well (the writer who never leaves his house). Clarke did not particularly reinvent himself but for people who have read more of his books The Last Theorem will feel familiar. And that is what a lot of people look for in a book. I have not actually read any fiction by Frederik Pohl, something I intend to remedy soon, but the tone writing does remind me of the posts on his blog (which I recommend you check out). Pohl seems to be permanently amused at the world and some of that can be seen in the book. Even if this fictional world isn't always pretty.

The pace of the book is probably where most of the criticism is directed at. Up to about two thirds of the book I didn't really see why so many people didn't think it was a great book. The story progressed nicely, although the focus shifts a bit from Ranjit's mathematical achievements to world politics. It is here that Ranjit is to play a (small) part in the world shaking events that the book chronicles. The conclusion of the book is fairly abrupt though. Once first contact has been made the authors appear to see the outcome as inevitable and don't spend a lot of time discussing it. The finale of the book will probably raise a few eyebrows with readers. Did we really need so much story to build up to it? Or were the authors in a hurry to wrap things up? I took a few days to let the book sink in before I began the review and I am still not entirely sure. It is an ending like you'll find in more of Clarke's books though, leaving us with a world headed for an utopian future.

In the end I guess The Last Theorem leaves me with mixed feelings too. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it in a way. Like we've come to expect of Clarke it contains a lot if fascinating scientific speculations as well as a number of humorous observations about society. On the other hand the book is quite unbalanced and the connections between the various elements of the story tenuous at some points. It does not excel at character development either, but then, Clarke's books never were about characters. He writes about the world. While the book never bored me, or even failed to entertain me, it does have too many flaws to be a great novel. Normally I wouldn't recommend it, but as a fan, can you really not read Clarke's last novel? Let me put it this way then, if you are familiar with Clarke you will probably want to read it. If you are new to his work, I suggest you start with one of his earlier novels. My personal favourite is Rendezvous with Rama.

Book Details
Title: The Last Theorem
Author: Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl
Publisher: Voyager
Pages: 303
Year: 2008
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-00-729000-0
First published: 2008

The Songs of Distant Earth - Arthur C. Clarke

The Songs of Distant Earth is one of Clarke's later novels, based on a shorter piece of the same name he wrote in the 1950s. In the foreword Clarke states it is something of a response to the rise of what he calls "space opera" on television and the silver screen (he specifically mentions Star Trek, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas), which according to him are fantasy. I suppose one could see them as such if you stick to the narrow interpretation of science fiction. Personally I never saw the point of trying to define genres and sub-genres, it's pretty obvious it is almost impossible to come up with a definition that would satisfy everyone. To Clarke apparently it matters. He sets himself the task of writing a science fiction novel that portrays interstellar travel realistically. So get rid of your Heisenberg compensators, Warp drives and Hyperspace, time to get back to the basics. Sub-light speed travel that literally takes generations.

In 1956 physicists discover a new and exotic particle they name neutrino, a particle that passes right through the earth without even being slowed by it. A decade later the first measurements show that the sun is not emitting as many of these particles as the models predicted. It takes scientists until the early 21st century to solve the problem and the answer is disturbing. Something is seriously wrong. It appears the sun will go nova around the year 3600. That year is still far away but soon the first efforts the escape doom begin. Mankind is trying to reach the stars and seed colonies.

Sometime in the 39th century the Magellan, the last seedship to leave the earth before it is destroyed, arrives a the planet of Thalassa. The Eden-like ocean planet has been settled some seven centuries earlier. After a major volcanic eruption Thalassa has lost contact with the other scattered colonies and Earth itself. Their culture has stagnated to a content, idyllic, almost utopian society. The arrival of the Magellan shakes up the colony. The effects of this contact with this technologically very advanced, last group of colonists to escape earth is going to bring change to Thalassa, whether they like it or not.

The Songs of Distant Earth was published in 1986 and back then the solar neutrino problem was very real. To put your mind at ease, science considers it solved now. The sun does indeed emit less neutrinos than the models expected and this is not going to cause it to go nova. Don't ask me to explain it, the solution has something to do with some of the more counter-intuitive properties of neutrinos, I won't even pretend to understand it. The idea of this impending disaster is an interesting one though. It would certainly give humanity a long time project and the drive to make it work.

Apart from his doom scenario Clarke has also put quite a lot of thought into how this interstellar travel might be accomplished without resorting to faster than light travel. Especially the bit on the friction encountered in space by an object travelling sufficiently fast is very interesting. It's also something Alastair Reynolds mentions in one of his Revelation Space novels.

An even more speculative bit of science Clarke puts in his novel is the use of vacuum energy as propulsion for a spacecraft. This enables them to go much faster, although still nowhere near the speed of light because of the friction problem. This theory seems to have a theoretical basis but seems to have crossed the line into pseudo-science on occasion as well. It's not something science understands all that well, and if Clarke is to be believed, that situation will not change much for the coming millennium or more.

There's more to the novel than natural science of course. Clarke also takes a close look at the disturbance of his utopian society on Thalassa. I must admit this aspect of the novel is almost comical. The Thalassians are obviously pretty intelligent and technologically advanced but seem the have no drive whatsoever to accomplish anything. They're distracted all the time by trivialities. One of the best examples is the scene describing the meeting between the Magellan crew and the randomly elected president of Thalassa. It is absolutely hilarious. Many people will have serious problems accepting this society as realistic but it is certainly entertaining.

Thalassa may be an utopia, the story is not without its share of tragedy. The two groups have a window of about two years to interact before the Magellan continues its journey. Long enough for deep emotional attachments to form. With the crew in stasis, everybody the crew has known on Thalassa will long since have died by the time the ship reaches it's destination however. On top of that there is the trauma of being the last group to leave earth and see it being destroyed. Clarke carefully balances these aspects, giving the book sufficient depth to make it a thought provoking read without being overly heavy.

Whether Clarke managed to write something that is less fantastical than shall we say Star Wars is questionable. Clarke's futures always carry a touch of utopia, something that in my opinion at least, is most certainly not supported by history of the 20th century. Progress is one thing, what we're doing with it is quite another. Mix in the controversial science and highly speculative solution to the solar neutrino problem I'd say Clarke would have been wise to stick to a somewhat wider definition of science fiction that he seems to be advocating. That is, at least partly, hindsight though and it didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying this book. It won't top anyone's favourite list but if you are looking for a quick but thought provoking and slightly fantastic science fiction tale you could do worse than The Songs of Distant Earth.

Book Details
Title: The Songs of Distant Earth
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 320
Year: 1986
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0-345-33908-8
First published: 1986