# What’s good in the Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 3, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612 "2024-11-03T15:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/21 "2024-11-05T01:18:05Z")
To be fair, Clarke started selling his stories when he was about 30 while Asimov was all of 18. The wonder isn’t that Clarke’s early stories were better than Asimov but that anybody reads Asimov’s early stories at all. The funny part is that Clarke’s first story appeared in a 1937 fanzine when he was 20. By 20 Asimov had published more than a dozen stories, some famous today. Also, to nitpick, “Loophole” appeared in the April 1946 _Astounding_ and “Rescue Party” in May, but for all I know it may have been sold first. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/22 "2024-11-05T01:37:24Z")
The wiki article says Rescue Party was sold first. But yeah, by the time Asimov was 30, he was writing some really good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/23 "2024-11-05T01:39:50Z")
I like his very short stories. I, too, recommend “the nine billion names of God”. I still shiver thinking of it. And the tales of the White Hart were fun, although i don’t remember them. I liked the shorter version of “against the fall of night” more than the longer ones. There was some sequel to 2001 that he wrote with someone else, maybe Rendezvous with Rama, that is the only one i would disreccomend. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/24 "2024-11-05T02:20:41Z")
Yes, the only Clarke I didn’t finish. ETA: Sorry, I got confused. Strongly recommend _Rendezvous with Rama_. I’ve read it several times. It was _Rama II_, co-written with Gentry Lee, that I never finished. ETA 2: and checking Lee’s biography, I see why I didn’t finish: _Rama II_ was primarily Lee’s writing, going in a different direction from Clarke. I didn’t like it. > _[Rendezvous With Rama](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_With_Rama)_ was written in 1972 and Clarke had no intention of writing a sequel. Lee turned the Rama series into a more character-driven story following the adventures of [Nicole des Jardins Wakefield](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicole_des_Jardins_Wakefield&action=edit&redlink=1), who becomes the main character in _[Rama II](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_II_(novel))_ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/25 "2024-11-05T02:40:04Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > **Dial F for Frankenstein** was my favorite…before I found out how prescient it is. I have no idea what you think is so precient about it. No matter how many telephones there are in the world, even 100 times as many as there are neurons in the human brain, the phone network is not going to become sentient. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/26 "2024-11-05T17:30:30Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Strongly recommend _Rendezvous with Rama_. I’ve read it several times. > > It was _Rama II_, co-written with Gentry Lee, that I never finished. > > ETA 2: and checking Lee’s biography, I see why I didn’t finish: _Rama II_ was primarily Lee’s writing, going in a different direction from Clarke. I didn’t like it. There are further sequels, all of which go downhill. From a very low starting point. Lee wrote a standalone book based on an idea by Clarke which is even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/27 "2024-11-05T18:30:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Strongly recommend _Rendezvous with Rama_. I’ve read it several times. > > It was _Rama II_, co-written with Gentry Lee, that I never finished. I love _Rendezvous with Rama_ and reread it regularly. But I’m still trying to put those execrable ‘sequels’ out of my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/28 "2024-11-05T23:19:38Z")
Outdated now, of course, but one less-mentioned story I’ll nominate is “Hate”. When I read it, I’d forgotten just how much of a gut punch Clarke was capable of delivering. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/29 "2024-11-06T12:05:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Also, to nitpick, “Loophole” appeared in the April 1946 _Astounding_ and “Rescue Party” in May, but for all I know it may have been sold first. Yes, that’s the chronology that Clarke gave in an interview, cited in the Wikipedia article on Rescue Party: that was the first article he sold to Campbell, but Loophole was published first. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612/30 "2024-11-07T00:05:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Yes, that’s the chronology that Clarke gave in an interview, cited in the Wikipedia article on Rescue Party: that was the first article he sold to Campbell, but Loophole was published first. Clarke mentioned in a few places that he was not thrilled when people said “Rescue Party” was their favorite story. He figured he improved at least a bit since his first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-good-in-the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/1009612.md?page=1)