"Sleeping Beauty" (short story): A cure for your snoring problems!

Welcome the modern equivalent of the great Druid from the village of Indomitable Gauls. The maker of impossible potions. Because this one is modern, he injects them into your body via a syringe rather than making you drink it. But that is about the only difference.

Enjoy in this lovely piece of humor.

Story summary (spoiler).

A man gets ultimatum from his wife: do something about your snoring, or we are parting ways!

There is an additional complication: the man is to inherit a small fortune bequeathed by an uncle five years down, but only on condition that he has never been divorced till the time he gets the money! Can you count the number of movies with some variant or other of this constraint? I know there are a lot in Hindi.

OK - so he approaches the druid - an uncle who is a professor of biochemistry, or something.

Uncle is aware of the will. He extracts a bit of money immediately, & a contract to a part of fortune that will eventually come. In return, he promises to do what he can.

A while later, the snorer is injected with a newly brewed drug by professor. But he is not told that he is the first guinea pig of the wonder drug. Result is magical. Snoring is completely cured. So is the sleep!

Our snorer will never need to sleep again.

Part of the following story is concerned with speculation of how you will use all your extra time if you never needed to sleep.

But another fatal problem is surfacing. Because our man doesn't sleep, he cannot spend much time in bedroom with his wife. He gets out about midnight, & keeps himself occupied with nightly adventures.

Wife is not amused. She would rather have her snorer back!

Another visit to professor. An antidote is delivered. Unfortunately, the professor dies soon after administering drug - in a lab accident.

And, of course, need-to-sleep problem is cured, without snoring, & far better than anyone had hoped for! Our snorer never need to be awake again! Becomes a Kumbhkaran, the demon who loved to sleep - even truer than the original.

No one is complaining, least of all the wife who gets to enjoy the fortune without being burdened with a man of extremes.

Fact sheet.

Sleeping Beauty, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Comedy
First published: 1957
Rating: A
See also: Other Clarkian comedies.

This story appears in the following collections.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Tales from the White Hart"

"The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" (short story): Don't fear the complicated title, please

It was the tongue-twister title of this story that I first found attractive - in a perverse sort of way. After dusting my 20 year old nearly unused Webster (I had brought it because of beautiful bright red cover!), I found the meaning of "defenestration": throwing someone or something out of window. Ermintrude is the name of a women who happens to be the heroine of the story; Inch is her surname, & her husband's.

The story is actually is a timeless piece of humor - told since times immemorial in all cultures. And yet, every telling is different. And often attractive.

Story summary (spoiler).
A man - a sound engineer - feels harassed by his wife, because she speaks too much! After one of their numerous quarrels (wife thinks she hardly speaks, ever!), he decides to do something about it.

Result is what Clarke calls Word Counter (I think), but a more appropriate name would be "Wife Silencer". Or may be "Spouse Silencer", to be politically correct.

This is an ingenious piece of electronics that can isolate words in spoken language, & can associate each word with a speaker. When switched on, every word the wife utters in the living room will increment a very visible counter called Hers; & man's word will increment the counter named His.

On the first run of a few hours, wife's counter beats man's by a factor of 100. And wife is somewhat silenced. Over next several days, situation begins to turn towards a semblance of equality, though wife still beats man by a factor of 2.

But she is feeling depressed. Says she feels stifled because of readily visible counters. OK - the man juggles the gadget so the mike is hidden in living room, & rest of the gadget in another corner of home. A temper-proof seal is attached to now invisible counters - it will be opened a week hence.

Routine becomes normal. until the seal is broken a week down the line. And surprise - man's counter beats woman's by 100! Man is incredulous, & begins debugging the machine. Defenestration occurs when he identifies the cause.

And there is a final twist yet remaining in the tale!

Well told, & enjoyable tale.

Fact sheet.
The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Comedy
Rating: A

See also.

1. "Silence Please": This story introduced a more general purpose silencer. But gadget of our current story should appeal to more entrepreneurs - because of much larger market!
2. "The Reluctant Orchid": Some of emotions of main protagonists are very similar.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Tales from the White Hart" (collection): Annotated table of contents

This appears to be far better story collection by Arthur Clarke than his "Reach for Tomorrow", though I haven't read more than half the stories yet.

Tone, ambiance, & presentation style is very similar to Issac Asimov's Black Widowers series of stories.

Here is the complete list of all the 15 stories in the collection:

1. "Silence Please": Humor. A man invents the ultimate silencer.
   
2. "Big Game Hunt": A man discovers a way to make arbitrary animals dance to his tune.
   
3. "Patent Pending" (Probably also called “The Invention”): A man invents the ultimate porn distribution machine.
   
4. "Armaments Race": A harmless toy that wasn't so harmless!
   
5. "Critical Mass": A stampede is averted, in the aftermath of nuclear disaster that wasn't.
   
6. "The Ultimate Melody": Why do you like some music but not other? Are these but crude approximations to an ultimate melody that everyone will like?
   
7. "The Pacifist": Humor. Tale of a naughty computer.
   
8. "The Next Tenants": In the general gloom following World War II, a man places hope in species other than humans. And decides to play god.
   
9. "Moving Spirit": Humor. A man's ingenuity against governmental sin taxes.
   
10. "The Man Who Ploughed the Sea": A device to mine metals from the oceanic waters.
    
11. "The Reluctant Orchid": A murder gone wrong, because the novel weapon used was untested.
    
12. "Cold War": Humor. Californian businessmen want some of the tourist traffic from Florida. So they contrive a plan to dilute the brand image of the Sunshine State.
    
13. "What Goes Up": An industrial accident creates an anti-gravity force field.
    
14. "Sleeping Beauty": Humor. A man invents a cure for your snoring disorders.
    
15. "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch": Humor. If your spouse speaks too much, help is on the way!
    

"The Possessed" (short story): Intellect in the abstract!

This story has something in common with the first story of "2001 A Space Odyssey" - aliens nudging apes to become humans. Only they choose a different species, & the story has a very different ending! And the aliens here are not as philanthropic.

This story also reminded me of another old book - "Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter. It was very popular when I was in college, & is written in style between a textbook & a story.

If I recall correctly, & I never went beyond first third plus its many pretty pictures, "Godel" dealt with the idea of consciousness (or at least self-awareness) in abstract mathematical structures. Kind of - can we isolate the idea of consciousness in a way that doesn't depend on anything physical, & will still be recognized as consciousness by reasonable people.

This story is very similar. It also is among the better ET stories by Clarke.

Story summary (spoiler).
A conscious being, Swarm, doesn't have a physical body in familiar sense - it's just a bunch of elementary particles that, nevertheless, is living & very smart. It can move between stars riding the interstellar light, except very close to stars where it can disintegrate & die.

It also is a parasite - it lives off other intelligent beings, by colonizing their minds. This idea of colonizing others' mind also appears in another Clarke story - "The Parasite".

Anyway, disaster has struck its home world, killing its host species & their world. So it is roaming the space in search of a suitable world, & suitable hosts. That is how it comes to earth.

But this is primeval earth. While there is life aplenty, there is no sign of anything intelligent. Should it nudge some of the living beings towards becoming intelligent, or roam the universe in search of another suitable world?

It decides to do both. Through a process akin to cell division, it splits into two equals. One will stay on earth, & try to convert some species into something intelligent; other will roam the universe.

They also decide on a point of rendezvous on earth. The one staying will visit this place periodically for any message from other half. If other half finds a suitable world, it will split again & send a copy back with the information - so the separated tribe can be united again.

Local watches over growing earth life, not able to choose anything suitable. And keeps returning to point of rendezvous - without luck. It is this need for rendezvous that gives the story its title.

Hundreds of millions of years pass. Routine repeats. In the meantime the local has chosen a local life form for nudging. Only problem is - it has bet on the wrong animal, & has lost much of its internal fire because of wait for good life all these years. But it still visits the point of rendezvous - in the hope the other half will come & redeem it.

End of the story is an amusing & inexplicable scene watched by a human family. And you know where the local Swarm had placed its bet.

Fact sheet.
The Possessed, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1951
Rating: B

See also.

1. The alien we meet at the end of "The Fountains of Paradise" appears to be a somewhat more physical version of Swarm.
2. Neil Gaiman's "How to talk to girls at parties", nominated for Hugo Award 2007 in short story category, appears to be a variant of "The Possessed".
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "More Than One Universe"

"Time's Arrow" (short story): A visit to Jurassic Park, reversed!

I had been wondering why there has been no story involving a time machine by Clarke. And here it comes.

In spite of having seen several time travel movies, I find this story original.

Story summary (spoiler).
A group of paleontologists have hit upon a geological discovery of some importance - fossilized bed on an ancient riverbed with footprints of a big dinosaur. The story is about reconstructing the physical path the dinosaur took around this location.

Looks like the beast stopped in the wet riverbed, then saw something interesting, & ran towards it. So our friends painstakingly dig the ground towards the source of interest.

Near the digging site is an enigmatic facility of several buildings. No one really knows for sure what goes on there - so the speculation is wild: perhaps it is a governmental atomic facility, perhaps it is about a great new invention funded by private investors, ...

Until one day there is an accident. The facility vanishes. And the diggers discover what it was that the dinosaur found interesting!

See also.

1. Two similar stories, L Sprague de Camp's "A Gun for Dinosaur" & Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", are interesting variations on this story.
   

Fact sheet.
Time's Arrow, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First Published: 1952
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"

"Jupiter Five" (short story): Precursor to "Rendezvous with Rama"

This story obviously leads better known "Rendezvous with Rama" - there are just too many similarities. This story also has elements that will be seen in the 3 sequels of "2001 A Space Odyssey".

Story summary (spoiler).
Like Rendezvous, we have an alien spaceship in our solar system with kilometer scale dimensions. Like Rama, this is a complete independent habitat including its own sea. Like Rama, it has traveled for untold number of years through interstellar space. Like Rama, number 3 is important to these aliens - e.g., the ship's hull comprises of 3 layers.

Unlike Rama, this ship is spherical rather than cylindrical in shape, & has multiple entrances rather than only one. Also unlike Rama, it is dead & has been dead for several million years.

And, for a change, the aliens are not tentacled but reptilians, as in "History Lesson".

But by & large, the story is in the same style & tone as Rendezvous.

Last third is just a mundane fight of wits, & could have been dropped from story without any effect; it just prolongs the story. Or may be it is a precursor to 3 Rendezvous sequels; there are similarities with those sequels.

You get a preview of Odyssey sequels in the form of voyage to Jupiter, & a stopover at Ganymede.

Quite a readable story, but I prefer Rendezvous.

Fact sheet.
Jupiter Five, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First Published: 1953
Rating: B

Series: "Jupiter Five" (A), "Rendezvous with Rama" (A), "Rama II" (C) , "Garden of Rama" (B), "Rama Revealed" (B)

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"
4. "The Sentinel (collection)"

"The Curse" aka "Nightfall" (short story): Fate of a bombed city

Among the least entertaining stories by Clarke. The only good thing about it is that it is really short!

Story summary (spoiler).

Story describes the state of a dead small town some days after a nuclear bomb was dropped on it. It is completely descriptive - no humans, animals or dialogs - and of course the mood is sad & nostalgic.

The town involved is Stratford-upon-Avon, apparently a very well known city in England, located on the banks of river Avon. The city is both the birthplace of William Shakespeare, & where his grave is located. Both the grave & the river make an appearance towards the end of story.

Story apparently gets its title from the last line of the translation-to-modern-English of the well known epitaph on the gravestone, though the story quotes the original epitaph when identifying the grave:

"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare
to digg the dvst encloased heare
Blese be y man y spares thes stones,
and cvrst be he y moves my bones."

Story dateline has an anomaly I could not resolve. The city was accidentally bombed some 300 years after Shakespeare died. The story is told a few days after the incident. That would place it about the year 1616 + 300 = 1916 AD. Yet the bomb dropped is a hydrogen bomb!

Acknowledgment.

Till I saw Sarah's comment below, I had no idea of the identity of either the city or gravestone, nor any idea of the importance of both to England. Thanks Sarah.

I substantially revised the text above on June 22, 2007 after following Sarah's links, & after rereading the story.

See also.

1. Other stories with nearly the same subject matter: Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains", & Arthur Clarke's "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ...". Bradbury's version is the lightest read.
   
2. Henry Gee's "Are We Not Men": While I didn't quite like either, if you liked Curse, you might like this story by Gee too. Very similar telling style, though on a different subject.
   

Fact sheet.

"The Curse" aka "Nightfall", short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First Published: 1953
Rating: C

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Reach for tomorrow"
3. "More Than One Universe"

"The Awakening" (short story): Man shall not inherit the earth!

Frankly, I am getting bored with Clarke's doomsday stories - there are just too many of them!

Story summary (spoiler).
Earth is so prosperous at this future date that boredom is the biggest problem. Too many men committing suicide because of lack of excitement in life.

Our hero, if you can call him that, decides to do something interesting. He gets a spaceship built, with an inner chamber that is essentially a machine controlled chamber for human hibernation.

He takes off into space, parks himself into a solar orbit beyond Pluto, & goes to sleep in the hibernation chamber. The machines controlling hibernation chamber have instructions to awaken him unfathomable eons hence; ship likewise has instructions to bring him back to earth after awakening.

At the time of awakening, something in the machines fails; he is not awakened really, but stays in hibernation.

Ship faithfully brings him back to earth. But earth has changed unrecognizably. Gone are its seas, Alps, & Himalayas. Also gone is the moon - it crashed into earth at some time in far away past (I was taught that moon is moving away from earth, a few centimeters a year!)!

Well - the ship lands at the best site it can find. Some members of the current master race of earth come, awaken him using their technology but only for a while. And he realizes it is not the man that inherits the earth, but ...

Fact sheet.
The Awakening, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1951
Rating: C

See also.

1. "The Parasite" - another story of a prosperous future human society with bored individuals. But the two stories are developed very differently.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
   

"The Forgotten Enemy" (short story): Ice age returns

Story summary (spoiler).
Our Sun, in its run around galaxy, has entered a vast cloud of generally harmless cosmic dust. No one knows how long the pass will take - decades or thousands of years.

Result is: much less heat of the Sun reaches earth. And earth has entered the process that will take it into the long forgotten ice age.

The story is about the anguish of a man who has seen his world shattered by the event.

Fact sheet.
The Forgotten Enemy, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1950
Rating: C

See also.

1. "Transience" - where our Sun enters a more dangerous kind of cosmic cloud, a nebula.
   
2. In Asimov's novel "Currents of Space", a floating cloud of carbon dust hits the sun of an inhabited planet, with disastrous effects.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Of Time and Stars"

"A Walk In the Dark" (short story): Of primeval fears

If the only terror you knew as a child was that of darkness, you might be able to identify with this story. At least for a while.

An MP3 version of this story is available online (link via SF Signal & Free SF Reader). I haven't heard the audio version.

Story summary (spoiler).
A man of a high-tech community is forced by circumstances to walk for a few hours on a lonely road in a wilderness with no moon & little starlight. In a region that locals believe is kind of haunted, & has a monster on the loose!

Story is of the man's fears as he walks down the road; plus a predictable twist near the end of tale. Not the best of Clarke, but I didn't begin getting bored till about half way through.

Fact sheet.
A Walk In he Dark, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Horror
First Published: 1950
Rating: C

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "More Than One Universe"

"The Fires Within" (as by E G O'Brian) (short story): Aliens that are not aliens!

Asimov's "The Gods Themselves" is probably the only other story I have read that can compare with this in inventiveness of unfamiliar life forms in fiction.

From the facts cited, this story was obviously written when much less was known about the interior of earth. But that doesn't dilute the fun of the story.

Story summary.

Most of the story is told in flashback. So let's begin with flashback.

A professor has a brainwave: cannot we use sonar (acoustic reflections) to "see" what lies beneath the surface of earth.

He builds a device that lets you "see" on a display what lies at any depth under the surface of earth. Oh, maximum depth depends on power input; the maximum the professor ultimately reaches is a couple of tens of miles.

Initially, the device is a curiosity. Then it becomes a useful industrial machine - very interesting for geologists. And then comes the inevitable twist in the tale.

It is obvious that as you go deep into earth, the pressure of rocks above grows, & also the temperatures increases. 10 miles down both are unbearably huge.

When the device was first tested, they found a lot of dead earthworms. Obviously they were killed by the energy released by device.

OK - so here is the twist. Professor is expecting that more than a few miles down, you will not really see any features - cavities would have been filled in, & it will be all molten rock. And that is what he sees, until he reaches a certain level - some 10 or 12 miles down.

What is seen are huge physical features where none are expected. Some investigation later, it is clear that they cannot be natural. Some theorizing later, the conclusion is: obviously there are intelligent beings living in that seething mass, & that they can float through all that rock, & build their cities there!

Rest of the story is told by the intelligent beings living down under, in the hot underbelly of earth - 300 years later. Oh, yes, & they are tentacled - Clarke's favorite feature in unfamiliar life forms.

Looks like they always thought no life could have (obviously) existed on the surface of earth since it was near vacuum & so cold it was near absolute zero (compared with their environment)!

Until they detected these sonars probing down under. That is when they tried making contact with the fragile humans. The tone of ending says that meant the doom of humans - they could never withstand the heat these creatures brought up.

End is worried musing by one of their own - they live only 12 miles deep. What happens if they should be contacted by anything living below them?

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Reach for tomorrow"
3. "Of Time and Stars"
4. "Across the Sea of Stars"

Fact sheet.

First Published: Fantasy, August 1949, under the pen name "E G O'Brian".
Rating: B

"The Parasite" (short story): Paranormal, & weird (obviously)

Best part of this story is - it is short! And has enough mystery to not bore till end.

The concept of the story is certainly not original. If you travel across small town northern India, you will hear stories of this ilk at many road side eateries - sometimes told as if they were true stories. It also has elements that remind me of two novels by Asimov - one of his Spacer stories involving people of the imaginary world Solaria, & another involving a curious elevator that let you travel in time rather than height.

But the specifics of the plot are original. At least I had not heard the story told in this form before.

Story summary (spoiler).
A man is haunted. Or possessed. Or hallucinating. The thing is - he feels he is always being accompanied by someone - someone who can access his deepest emotions. And this thing has been with him for years, dormantly watching. And now it is revealing itself - slowly, layer by layer, & taking pleasure in his discomfiture.

Here is the revelation. Looks like a race of humans in far away future has learned all there is to learn, including everything about the universe around. And they have infinite leisure, long life, & served by robotic maids.

They became so degenerate & lazy, they could not even meet their physical needs. Most Indians reading this might recognize the elements of oft-cited & unprintable joke involving a lazy man, the careless dog, & the bystander.

Anyway, these men of future have advanced technology. Among their perversions is one involving moving back in time when humans were more virile, & taking charge of the mind of one of the victims from this past - so these lazies can get pleasure without physical effort!

Will the smart victim be able to free himself of this presence?

Fact sheet.
The Parasite, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Paranormal
First Published: 1953
Rating: B

See also.

1. Hirai Kazumasa's "A Time for Revolution" - another story where future humans parasitically control the minds of people of an earlier era telepathically. But they aren't doing this for amusement; they are doing to to avert a future dystopia.
   
2. "The Awakening" - another story of a future human society of prosperous & bored individuals.
3. "The Possessed" - another story involving parasitic beings that colonize other intelligent animals' minds.
4. "The Light of Other days" - has a small episode near end where future descendants of humans can talk back to humans from past.
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Technical Error" (short story): A rather esoteric horror story

This story, first published under the title "The Reversed Man", relies for its facts on what I think is speculative physics - the existence of more spatial dimensions than 3 that we can perceive. Though there are theories galore, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever demonstrated their presence.

But it is a readable story, at least the first 90%.

Story summary (spoiler).
An electric power utility builds a new kind of very powerful generator. There is only one theoretical physicist in the employ of the company who understands the principles.

While commissioning the generator, there is an accidental short circuit - resulting in one technician getting momentary exposure to very intense field - electromagnetic field, & god knows what other kind of field.

After rescue, it is found in hospital that he has not suffered any serious damage, & will be discharged in a few days. Except for a curious phenomenon observed by one of the doctors - though he cannot nail it down to any kind of sickness in technician.

The doctor consults the theoretical physicist. The phenomenon is: everything about the technician, as well as the physical artifacts he was carrying like currency coins & a diary, have become a kind of mirror image of their original selves. The man thinks his left arm is his right arm; some tooth fillings in his mouth have moved from left to right; when he reads a newspaper, he finds the text arranged as if he is looking in the mirror; the diary he was carrying has its text switched to what it would have looked like if seen in mirror; text & pictures on the currency coins he was carrying have likewise reversed!

Physicist theorizes the possibility of a forth dimension having been momentarily opened at accident side, & the man simply "turned over" in that forth dimension! But he keeps this theory to himself - though he spends a lot of time quietly working on the details privately.

Since the technician is improving without any side effects, & relearning to live in his left/right transposed world, everyone forgets about it. Except when the doctor confronts the physicist again, a few days later.

Looks like the patient is starving. New theories are postulated. It seems, many foods are found naturally in two mirror image configurations, where human body can only use one! Doctor is keeping the patient alive by coordinating the manufacture of mirror image version, but it is turning out to be very expensive.

Since physicist has good reputation, he manages to ensure an extraordinary meeting of company board is called, & presents the costs of liability scenario. And presents the alternative - reproduce the same scenario & hope the forth dimension will do the magic. And gets the board approval to do this. Separately, the approval of patient & his family is also sought.

Unfortunately, the reproduced experiments succeeds more than anyone had bargained for!

Fact sheet.
Technical Error, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Horror
First published: 1950
Rating: B

See also.

1. A device that lets you move along a fourth spacial dimension also features in "Superiority".
2. "What Goes Up" also has an industrial accident that opens up fearsome new vistas into forces unknown to mankind.
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"

"Trouble with the Natives" (short story): When aliens visited a little English village!

Frustration of alien colonists. Good humor.

Story summary (spoiler).
A galactic survey ship that reports to equivalent of the ministry of tribal affairs (of galactic government) lands on earth - near an English village. Among the mostly tentacled crew are two humanoids - deficient alien creatures with only one pair of legs, arms & eyes! They don't quite look human, but are effectively disguised as such - given the advanced ET technology.

These two are to make contact with human authorities. They have learned English & human manners by listening to BBC broadcasts over a period of time.

The story is of their adventures through the village, as every attempt at contact is frustrated. Because they are totally inappropriately dressed, BBC mannerism doesn't work in this village, & totally naive application of their learnings about humans.

Similar scenarios in movies.
I am not aware of this in Hollywood, but I have seen at least two Hindi films that have very similar plot. But rather than aliens landing, it is Yam & Chitragupt (see below) that land on earth, & get frustrated in their contacts with earthlings - in scenes very similar in spirit to those in this story.

For those not familiar with lores of India: Yam, also called Yamraj, is the god of death, & also the warden of hell. Chitragupt is the heavenly accountant - the one who keeps a register that records your good deeds & bad ones.

Fact sheet.
Trouble with the natives, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Humor
First Published: 1951
Rating: B

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "And Then There Were None" (A): Very similar & hilarious story (but longer) - only imperialists from earth try overlording another human inhabited world.
   
2. Michael Flynn's "Eifelheim" (B): This novel, among the finalists for Hugo Awards 2007, is about the aliens' visit to a German village - in fourteenth century.
   
3. "History Lesson" & "Rescue Party" both have scenes where ETs conclude naive things about humans by looking at, respectively, a movie & a portrait. In this story, aliens get similar miscues by watching television & listening to radio.
4. Tentacled aliens as dominant alien species was also the case in "Rescue Party".
5. Galactic survey ships looking for primitive intelligent races are rather common in Clarke's stories. But the aliens running them usually want to help still undeveloped life farms, rather them treat them as aboriginals.

This story has also been published under these titles.

1. "Three Men in a Flying Saucer"

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Of Time and Stars"

"Rescue Party" (short story, free): First of Clarke, also mother of all his stories

According to Clarke's opening remarks in the story collection "Reach for Tomorrow", "Rescue Party" is not only his first published story, but shares the roots with another story - "History Lesson". Also see the note on first story near end of this article.

After reading it, I am getting a feeling that this also is the mother story of all of Clarke's life. Just too many ideas in his later stories already appear here! And it must be among the most influential science fiction stories by anyone; see Influences section below.

Full text of this story is available online (link via Sf Signal & Free SF Reader). I've not read this online version.

Story summary (spoiler).
This doomsday story is set in about 2200 AD.

Sun is about to blast, & will take earth & rest of solar system with it. A kind of galactic administration of aliens not aware of the existence of humans suddenly learns two facts:

1. That our Sun will burst - less than 10 hours before the event.
2. That it contains a world inhabited by intelligent beings. It seems - these beings discovered radio 200 years back, & one of their transmissions has just been intercepted by a alien station 200 light years from earth.

There is a ship of galactic administration just about a billion miles of earth. It is entrusted with the job of rescuing what intelligent creatures it can from the doomed earth. It will have just about 4 hours on earth, after accounting for the time needed to reach it & then to escape.

Will they be able to help humans?

Influences.
I enumerate here those of Clarke's stories that carry influences from this story. Note that I haven't probably read even half of his total work - so this list will likely expand in future!

1. Expand this story a bit, & you get "The Songs of Distant Earth". Another very similar story is "The Star".
2. Alien ship in question is a cylindrical one, with kilometer scale dimensions. Its elaboration will yield "Rendezvous with Rama". Plus the ships in its 3 sequels.
3. "History Lesson" is similar in that Sun is changing in a way that dooms earth. But rather than exploding, it cools - to turn earth into an icy wasteland. But both the response of humans to the event, & story ending, are very different.
4. In "History Lesson", aliens begin drawing funny conclusions about humans by interpreting the scenes in a movie reel. Something very similar happens here; early in their search on earth, they find a portrait of a man & begin wondering how the poor bipeds managed with just 4 limbs & 2 eyes - may be they have more eyes in the back not visible in this primitive 2D portrait!
   
5. There is a brief mention of a black rectangle that gives the illusion of having infinite depth. This reminded me of the various Monoliths (TMAs) in Space Odyssey series.
6. Tentacled aliens in this story might have morphed into octospiders seen in various Rama sequels.
7. Galactic administration entrusted with their duties by powers beyond the beginning of time reminds me of the end of "Rama Revealed". The powers beyond the beginning of time also appear to be indistinguishable from Brahma, the Creator, of Hindu Trinity (other two are Vishnu - the Executive, & Shiva - the Destroyer; these two don't have any avatars here).
8. While beginning operation rescue humans on earth, these tentacled aliens carry a paralyzer because they will likely have to do forcible evacuations because of lack of time. In "Rama Revealed", octospiders actually use paralyzers when they "kidnap" a woman.
   
9. Galactic survey ship, & the survey administration, here is very similar in concept to the one in "Encounter at Down".
10. Aliens keeping a watch on development of earthlings, among other promising beings across galaxy, is found in Space Odyssey series, & in "The Sentinel".
11. Benign aliens helping intelligent beings everywhere in galaxy is an idea you also find in "2001 A Space Odyssey". Though its sequels somewhat dilute it.
12. Anti-gravity devices mentioned here are also seen in "3001 The Final Odyssey", but with a different application - to power a spaceship.
    

I am also aware of some stories by Issac Asimov that have ideas very similar to those in this story:

1. You find Issac Asimov's Gaia here, as Palador; one of his Foundation sequels - "Foundation's Edge" - introduced it; another of his novels - "Foundation & Earth" - further developed it. Another of Asimov's novels - "Nemesis" - also has a planet scale hive intelligence. Palador in this story is very similar to Gaia, not the one in Nemesis.
2. The idea of a Sun blasting, & rescue of an entire planet, is also the theme of Asimov's novel "Currents of Space".
3. Galactic administration described here could have been Asimov's Empire, though Clarke doesn't really elaborate the administration part. And Asimov's Empire was of human origin, & his stories on the subject focused mostly on the politics.
4. I recall more than one of Asimov's sequels to Foundation series that had anti-gravity devices, though in different applications - as an ordinary elevator & a spaceship.

Trivia.
You get a feeling of the age of the story when you see mentions of "vacuum tubes" (as in computers), or of cupboards full of some 5 million punched cards! But they don't hamper readability.

Is it really the first story by Clarke?
When I originally wrote this article, I had referred to Clarke's "Reach for Tomorrow". Here is the quote: '"Rescue Party", which was written in 1945, was my first published story'. The publication actually happened a year later, in 1946.

I now (on 25 August 2007) hold in my hands "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke". And here is the quote from introduction to first story in the book - "Travel by Wire!": "'Travel by Wire!' was my first published story."

Actually, the later appears right. "Travel by Wire!" was published in 1937 in Amateur Science Fiction Stories; "Rescue Party" was first published May 1946 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction.

Based on Clarke's other remarks introducing "Travel by Wire!", he seems to think this was published in one of the fan magazines while "Rescue Party" was in a mainstream publication; also that Travel is probably of lower quality than his later works. I actually find Travel to be among his best stories.

Fact sheet.
Rescue Party, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First published: 1946 (in "Astounding Science Fiction")
Rating: A

Series: "Rescue Party" (A), "The Songs of Distant Earth" (A)

Collected in.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"
4. "The Sentinel (collection)"
5. "More Than One Universe"
6. David Drake, Jim Baen, & Eric Flint (Ed)'s "The World Turned Upside Down"
   

"Reach for tommorrow" (collection): Annotated table of contents

This short story collection by Arthur Clarke was first published in 1956, & contains 12 stories published in desperate places over several years.

The only interesting stories in the collection are "Rescue Party", "Time's Arrow", & "Jupiter Five". And may be "Trouble with the Natives" & "The Possessed".

Here is the complete list of stories in the collection:

1. "Rescue Party": Clarke's first published story. And a smaller version of "The Songs of Distant Earth".
   
2. "A Walk in the Dark": Circumstances force a man to face the primeval fear of darkness.
   
3. "The Forgotten Enemy": Coping with the next Ice Age.
   
4. "Technical Error": An accidental electric short circuit opens fearsome new vistas.
   
5. "The Parasite": Men from distant future play telepathic games across time.
   
6. "The Fires Within": A man begins exploring interior of earth. And dooms humanity's future.
   
7. "The Awakening": Man shall not inherit the earth!
   
8. "Trouble with the Natives" (also called "Three Men in a Flying Saucer"): Humor. When aliens visited a little English village.
   
9. "The Curse": Sad & nostalgic. Fate of a bombed city. This is the same story as "Nightfall", published under a different title for some reason.
   
10. "Time's Arrow": A visit to Jurassic Park, reversed!
    
11. "Jupiter Five": A shorter version of "Rendezvous with Rama".
    
12. "The Possessed": Intellect in the abstract!
    

Rama Series Summary

Books in Arthur C Clarke's Rama series of novels (in order of publication).

1. "Rendezvous with Rama"
2. With Gentry Lee: "Rama II"
3. With Gentry Lee: "Garden of Rama"
4. With Gentry Lee: "Rama Revealed"

On quality of the series.
The only decent story in this series is Rendezvous. Slightly dated theme of self-contained extra-terrestrial habitats, but there is enough innovation & good story telling to make it a worthy read.

Rama II is garbage, primarily because of major readability issues.

Garden & Revealed are generally readable. But if I had some other book at hand, I would rather skip them.

Third party illustrations on the series.
A common reason some people don't like Rama series, particularly Rendezvous, is because of the difficulty visualizing the interior of Rama. I have seen some very good pictures on the web that can help reading - alas never saved links.

No matter. I will be looking out for them now, and add here when I find a good one.

1. Some hand-drawn illustrations of cities & creatures inside Rama (drawn from multiple books in the series).
2. Very good 3 minute movie showing the approach & landing of human spacecraft on Rama, & entry of human explorers through airlock into the ship. But ship interior is an enigma here.
   

Influence of "Rescue Party".
Rescue Party appears to be the mother of all Clarkian fiction, & Rama series doesn't escape.

1. Main novel, Rendezvous, appears to be essentially a detailing of the cylindrical alien spaceship with kilometer-scale dimensions that appears in this story.
2. Octospiders seen in the 3 sequels could have been derived from tentacled aliens in Rescue Party.
3. Galactic administration entrusted with their duties by powers beyond the beginning of time reminds me of the end of Rama Revealed.
4. In Rescue Party, tentacled aliens carry a paralyzer they might have to use on humans. In Rama Revealed, octospiders actually use a paralyzer when they "kidnap" a woman.

Influence of "Jupiter Five".
With minor variations, Rendezvous is simply a longer version of Jupiter Five. In fact, last one third of Jupiter Five gives you a preview of the 3 Rendezvous sequels too!

Stories by theme

Following links provide exploration of Arthur Clarke's novels & short stories reviewed here by theme of the story.

1. Brahm (religious concept from Hinduism)
2. Carnivorous plants
3. Comedy
4. Devil (as in Christianity)
5. Dilbert (as in cartoon strip)
6. Doomsday
7. Energy
8. ET (Extra Terrestrials) (Aliens)
9. Farming
10. Galactic survey ships looking for primitive intelligent races
11. Hollywood
12. Human history
13. Human space travel
14. Kickstart new intelligent species
15. Management
16. Moksha (religious concept from Hinduism)
17. Religion
18. Robots
19. Shipwreck & rescue
20. Technology deployment
21. Termites
22. Thriller
23. War
24. Whales

Stories by technology idea

Following links provide exploration of Arthur Clarke's novels & short stories reviewed here by technology idea woven into the story.

1. Artificial gravity produced by rotating cylinder
2. Cylindrical spaceship
3. Dumbbell-shaped spaceship
4. Human hibernation (Stasis)
5. Space elevator
6. Space shuttle
7. Terrafarming
8. Virtual reality

Stories by heavenly theater of action

Following links provide exploration of Arthur Clarke's novels & short stories reviewed here by heavenly bodies where the story unfolds.

1. Europa (moon of Jupiter)
2. Ganymede (moon of Jupiter)
3. Hally's Comet
4. Io (moon of Jupiter)
5. Japetus (also called Iapetus) (moon of Saturn). Some times, these are miss-spelt as Japitus, or Iapitus.
   
6. Jupiter
7. Moon
8. Phobos (moon of Mars)
9. Saturn
10. Venus

"3001 The Final Odyssey" (novel): Somewhat anticlimactic

This book is almost entirely fantasy rather than science fiction. Except a few pages of rather reasonable philosophical discourse about mid-way through the book, & that too is borrowed from similar discourse in "The City & the Stars". And in spite of the finality of the title, the end of the story leaves a lot of scope for further sequels.

Also, this book liberally copies whole passages from previous books in the series.

Story summary (spoiler).
First one third of the book is a kind of time warp: imagine you moved 1000 years ahead in time; how would you react to human society of this future. There have been perhaps a half dozen movies on the subject - both in Bombay, & in Hollywood. But Clarke is creative. Cannot fault him for borrowing from these movies.

Among the many devices described here, you find a mention of space ships that use "anti-gravity", a technology that first appears in "Rescue Party" - the mother of all Clarke stories.

Middle one third is generally slow paced: a voyage from earth to Ganymede, & a little excursion from Ganymede to Europa. Sole interesting part of the book is in the middle of this section - a short philosophical discourse on human nature; I copy some quotes below.

Note that a similar voyage to Ganymede, & then to another moon in Jupiter system, also happens in "Jupiter Five" - the story that will ultimately become "The Songs of Distant Earth".

Last third is about as fantastic as the last story in 2001. Unimaginably powerful gods are humbled by humans!

Last third also partially explains the discrepancy in the series so far: around 22,000 AD, Europans are at about the level of stone age humans in development, & Lucifer is shining. But in 3000 AD, Lucifer has stopped shining! We are now told this "stopped shining" was a temporary phenomenon that lasted only a few hours - as humans outwitted gods.

There is still a discrepancy remaining in the series. If humans outwitted gods in 3000 AD, how come Europans are still happy & safe from humans on Europa in 20,000 AD; and still protected by TMA in Europa that vanished when humans attacked gods in 3000 AD! But as Clarke explains towards the end of this book - it is fiction written over three decades. Don't bother with discrepancies. Enjoy the stories, instead of doing nit picking.

Quotations.
Quotes below are all taken from a little philosophical discussion near the middle of this book.

• "religion was the by-product of fear - a reaction to a mysterious and often hostile universe. For much of human prehistory, it may have been a necessary evil - but why was it so much more evil than necessary". "I said evil - and I mean it, because fear leads to cruelty".
• "obvious madmen, century after century, will proclaim that they - and they alone! - had received messages from God. If all the messages had agreed, they would have settled the matter. But of course they were wildly discordant - which never prevented self-styled messiahs from gathering hundreds - sometimes millions - of adherents".
• "most of the humanity has always been insane, at least some of the time".
• "There's never been anything, however absurd, that countless people weren't prepared to believe, often so passionately that they'd fight to the death rather than abandon their illusions. To me, that's a good operational definition of insanity."
• "Do you believe in ghosts, Dim?" "Certainly not: but like every sensible man, I'm afraid of them."

Fact sheet.
3001 The Final Odyssey, novel, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First published: 1997
Rating: B

See also:

1. "Space Odyssey series summary"
2. "Influences" section of "Rescue Party"
3. The ring habitat connected to earth with many spokes around equator that are space elevators that we see in first one third of this story also appears at the end of "The Fountains of Paradise". But there, we see it in about 4000 AD, & without details of its interior.
4. "The City & the Stars", a much earlier novel, has a religious discourse about its middle that is essentially the same as that in the middle of this book.
   
5. "Imperial Earth" is another Clarkian story that describes human life about the year 3000 AD. I personally find Imperial Earth's descriptions far more realistic.
   

A note on Space Odyssey Series

Books in Arthur C Clarke's Space Odyssey series of novels (in order of publication).

1. 2001 A Space Odyssey
2. 2010 Odyssey Two
3. 2061 Odyssey Three
4. 3001 The Final Odyssey

On quality of the series.
Perhaps the best single story in the series is the first story in 2001 - life & times of primitive apes on the verge of discovering stuff that will make their descendants humans.

Second & third stories in 2001 hold attention. Former is a mystery; later is a space voyage.

3001, near its middle, has an interesting but somewhat philosophical discourse on human nature & the nature of our gods. I have included some quotes in the review of the book. And this discourse is essentially the same as that found about the middle of a much earlier novel - "The City & the Stars".

Rest of the series is of rather mundane quality.

Related other stories from Clarke.

1. "The Sentinel": A precursor that was expanded in second story of 2001.
2. "Transience": First part of this story deals with a period of human history similar in spirit to first story in 2001. But this is generally a different story.
   
3. "Encounter at Down": A theme very similar to first story in 2001.
4. "History Lesson": Features superfast evolution of life on a world newly made inhabitable, in a way similar to that of 2010.
5. In the control room of the alien ship in "Rescue Party", there is a black rectangular screen that gives the impression of essentially infinite depth. It reminded me of monoliths that appear in various Space Odyssey novels.
6. Essentially benign aliens keeping a watch on the development of intelligent beings everywhere in galaxy also appears in "Rescue Party". But in "Rescue Party", they physically visit each world once every million years.
7. Anti-gravity devices that power the human spaceships in 3001 debut in much older "Rescue Party". There, the aliens use them to explore earth after they get off their ship.
8. In some of the Odyssey sequels, you find tree like life forms on Europa that can move around. You also find a similar creature in a much earlier novel - "The City & the Stars".
   

Extraterrestrial theaters in the series.
Stories in this series unfold at many different locations in solar system: manned space habitats, Moon, Hally's Comet, Saturn, Japitus (a moon of Saturn), Jupiter, Io (a moon of Jupiter), Europa (a moon of Jupiter), Ganymede (a moon of Jupiter), & near a comet in Kuiper belt (beyond Pluto).

In each case, there are graphic & imaginative descriptions of the locale. They are generally good-faith descriptions of a fiction writer, & are sometimes dated. Consult some more appropriate source if you want accuracy.

Stuff borrowed from elsewhere.
Simulations-that-are-ghosts in later half of 2061 are very similar to simulations of two historical European figures that appear in at least 2 of the many sequels to Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (I don't recall the names of books but their story location is on Trantor, a hypothetical world that figures in many Asimov books).

Braincaps of 2061 follow very similar learning gadgets in one of the old Asimov stories (I don't recall the name of story).

HAL, the computer in 2001 & 2010, is a lot like robots in many Asimov stories. Difference is: Asimov's robots tend to be benign; HAL is not. But I recall at least one story by Asimov where robot becomes lethal in a pathological case somewhat similar to HAL; this story is set on planet Mercury & extreme heat affects the robot; I do not recall the name of the story.

Energy beings of 2001, & the way they transform the human Dave into a star child, are very similar to concepts of brahm & moksha in Hinduism.

2061 & 3001 liberally borrow passages from previous books in the series.

A note on my story quality ratings

Among other things, this site as also my new Variety SF site, provide quality ratings on stories reviewed. There are also 4 big lists that rank stories by decreasing quality: Arthur Clarke's novels & short stories; other authors' novels & short stories.

Will my ratings make sense for you? Here is a quick test: here are some stories I consider among the best; & here are some I consider among the worst. If you disagree with placement of more than a few entries in these lists, odds are we have different value systems, & you probably won't find my ratings very useful.

A description of how I value stories, & an explanation of the rating scale used follows.

The way I value stories.
First & the most important thing about a story is its entertainment value. I rarely read a story book with the primary purpose of increasing my knowledge, or for appreciating how good a guru is in foreseeing the future. Both these attributes are useful, but first & foremost is entertainment value. More entertaining story tends to get a better rating.

While I do often enjoy reading description of fancy futuristic gadgets, I am an engineer & a bit too rooted to ground. I typically am able to appreciate only those gadgets or physical principles that I can actually understand. Too many gadgets like "Monolith" in Space Odyssey series tend to bore me. Books using too many of them will generally get low rating.

I sometimes do read fantasy, but I prefer Harry Potter to aliens. I certainly don't enjoy reading about the aliens that behave like gods & ghosts. Or where they are described in graphic detail. Such stories will typically get low rating.

I occasionally can appreciate philosophical or religious musings, but too much sermonizing puts me off. Result will be low rating.

If your value system for judging a story book is very different from this, you might be better off reading recommendations of someone more compatible.

My rating scale.
I use a 3-point grade system for ratings:

• A Time well spent
  
• B OK if you don't have anything better to do
• C Complete time waster
  

Note that I did initially began with the popular 1-5 numerical system, but ended up abandoning it in favor of this 3-point grade system. I find the 3-point system more actionable.

Note the icons are added late Sep 2007; newer entries sometimes carry them in addition to A/B/C text; old entries still use only text.

"The Pacifist" (short story): Tale of a naughty computer

This comedy is about a computer that rebelled. Or was made to. Or may be the programmer rebelled.

This is primarily the story of the dynamics of a software development team, with a Dilbertian flavor. But you should be able to connect with the story if you work in any kind of project team.

There are portions that are dated - like programming a computer by also tinkering with its circuits, or by adding static data to a piece of software by installing physical memory banks & loading them from a tape. But this story is from 1950s. Modern views of software were not yet in. And none of this comes in the way.

Story summary (spoiler).
A team is enlisted to build a piece of software for military operations. Team includes some very talented engineers.

Twist is in the form of a clueless, Pointy-type, manager who has got the position because of extra-curricular skills. And learns some very embarrassing lessons in managing highly technical staff.

Fact sheet.
The Pacifist, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1956
Rating: B

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"

"2061 Odyssey Three" (novel): Good thriller

This is the second of 3 sequels to "2001 A Space Odyssey".

While this shipwreck & rescue thriller pretty much gives away suspense at the very beginning (if you have read 2010), it is still generally a good read.

Also, this is generally a better book compared to first sequel - 2010. Fewer ghosts, no gods, few descriptions of wonderful alien creatures; and they don't last long. This is mostly a human story. There are some pages copied verbatim from 2010, but they are easy to ignore.

This book differs from earlier two in another respect also. It is a single story, rather than 4 different stories strung together.

While all the action happens in space, there are three parties on earth that play a role - but in background.

• A Chinese (or is he from Hong Kong? I forget) business tycoon (good guy). He runs an interplanetary shuttle service; two of his ships are involved in most of action.
• South African mafia (bad guys).
• A brilliant physicist (or is it chemist?). I forget his name.

There are two main theaters of action - Halley's Comet, & Europa (a moon of Jupiter-that has-become-a-sun named Lucifer). There is also some subsidiary action on Ganymede, another Jupiter moon. And preliminaries on earth.

Story summary (spoiler).
Action begins when the book is about a quarter through - a pleasure cum research voyage to Halley's Comet that is currently passing through inner solar system. A lot of pages on landing there, local scenery, features, etc.

Something has been cooking on Ganymede. Someone has seen a new feature on Europa with interesting characteristics. And wants to verify. Permission is quickly obtained from powers-that-matter on earth to throw a geological probe.

Since Europa is off bounds to humanity, according to Gods' dictate in previous book, a somewhat elaborate hoax is prepared for this voyage. After some adventures, there is a hijacking & an accident, & our friends land on Europa. Miraculously, powers protecting Europa don't mind.

Rest is the story of their rescue by the other ship at Halley's, & the wonderful sights the shipwrecked see on Europa.

End is ominous, with ample scope for next sequel.

• Lucifer dies. What will now happen to the newly lit worlds made possible by converting Jupiter into a sun?
  
• A new monster (TMA-4?) is introduced in New York City. And death of Lucifer has woken it up.
• A new ghost is created, without the man dying, by the two ghosts of previous book. As a kind of simulation. So we now have 3 ghosts to contend with - in next book.

Good luck.

PS: Sounds like is a discrepancy here. 2010 says there are Europans at the level of development of human cavemen in 22,000 AD. At that time, Lucifer is still shining. How come it burned out in this book? I wonder if I missed something out.

Fact sheet.
2061 Odyssey Three, novel, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First published: 1987
Rating: B
See also: "Space Odyssey series summary", "Influences" section of "Rescue Party"