Re: Clarke - two questions

"Anthony Nance" <nance@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:frtm07$7s8$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Steve Harclerode <Camel.Software.Co@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >
> > "Anthony Nance" <nance@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> > news:frrjbq$4kq$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> these seminal titles:".  Listed are these five works:
> >>
> >> - Childhood's End
> >> - The City and the Stars
> >> - The Nine Billion Names of God (collected short stories, 1951-56)
> >> - 2001: A Space Odyssey
> >> - Rendezvous With Rama
> >
> > That's pretty much the list I would make for "seminal works".
>
> Yeah, after some thought, I don't think my list of "seminal"
> would differ, although I don't believe the collection TNBNoG
> has "The Star" in it.
>
>
> > My personal favorite is "The Sands of Mars", because it was one of the
first
> > adult books that I read. I received it for Christmas one year, right
after I
> > had finished "Moon of Mutiny" by del Rey (which actually was the first
scifi
> > book that I read, but it's a juvenile). Thus began a long obsession
with
the
> > genre.
>
> My favorites (in no particular order) would definitely include
> Rendezvous With Rama, Earthlight, and Childhood's End.


I'd go for "The City and the Stars" rather than "Rama". It's got a
wonderful
"sweep" to it that puts me in mind of Doc Smith, but with more in the way
of
critical faculties. .

Agree about the other two, but I like all his early ones.



It's hard
> to decide on two others.  I do keep circling back to A Meeting
> with Medusa.  I also have a soft spot for "Superiority", but
> I can say the same for a few other short stories too.
>

"Superiority" is my favourite among his shorts. For the other, probably
"The
Nine Billion Names of God", though I'm sentimental enough to like "Dog
Star", while "The Food of the Gods" appeals to my nasty sense of humour.

--

Mike Stone - Peterborough, England

Always drink upriver from the herd (song title)