Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I nominate: Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke.
Amazon US - USD$7.75 | Amazon CA - CDN$7.99 | Amazon AU - AUD$10.55 | Kobo US - USD$8.09 | Kobo CA - CAD$8.69 | Kobo AU AUD$10.88
From Goodreads:
It's short, barely more than a novella (120 pages in my hardback). I strongly recommend avoiding the rather horrible sequel: Beyond the Fall of Night, written with Gregory Benford many years later. The two are often sold together, but even if you get Beyond the Fall of Night for free I suggest skipping it.
This is early Clarke and some criticise it for that early earnestness, but I like it better than some of his later work for many of the reasons others don't like it. There is much in here that Clarke doesn't try to explain; it's more human and less scientific than Clarke eventually becomes.
I recommend you check out your library options: this book is old and short, no one should be charging $10+ for this! (But some are.) Why I cannot find this on the UK sites is a mystery to me - I mean this is Arthur C. Clarke for crying out loud!
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Clarke later wrote a longer version called
The City and the Stars. It gets quite a good review in the
Science Fiction Encyclopedia. I know I am posting this too late for the poll but if ATFON doesn’t win and/or anyone wants to read Clarke’s final thoughts on Diaspar the later novel (which Clarke preferred) should be easier to obtain.