Audiobook Fix: Arthur C. Clarke

When I heard that Arthur C. Clarke had passed away, my reaction was probably the same as a lot of other fans. I wanted to read him again, right away. In one of his last interviews, he said that of all the things he did, he most wanted to be remembered as a writer. I will certainly have no problem doing that—the first piece of science fiction I ever read was by Clarke (a juvenile novel called Dolphin Island), and I’ve been reading and enjoying his work ever since. Since I am both a fan of his and of audiobooks, I’m pleased to say that there is an uncommonly large amount of Clarke’s short fiction available on audio.

In the 1970s, Clarke did several recordings for Caedmon. This was the beginning of the commercial audiobook industry. Abridgments hadn’t been thought of, and ten-cassette unabridged editions seemed ridiculous, so Caedmon released short stories and novel excerpts. Clarke took part in both, recording his stories “Transit of Earth” and “The Star” and excerpts from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood’s End, and The Fountains of Paradise. In 1995, Harper Audio released The Arthur C. Clarke Collection, which brought together much of the material he recorded. His reading of both “Transit of Earth” and “The Star” are exceptional and well worth finding.

When abridgments were “discovered,” Clarke was among the first authors tapped. I realize that novel abridgments don’t fall under the purview of this column, but the Waldentape releases of Childhood’s End and Rendezvous with Rama are worth mentioning because they were each abridged to novella length (each was around three hours of audio on two cassettes). I nearly always prefer unabridged audiobooks, but that’s how things were done then. Just like a novel was adapted as a film, a novel was adapted as an audiobook. A well crafted abridgment was at least as satisfying as a movie, and these two are amongst the best of their type. They were each performed by unnamed narrators who were excellent.

Here and now in the audiobook world, abridgments are disappearing, and large releases are possible and common. Arthur C. Clarke’s stories have been collected on audio in the biggest audio short fiction collection I’ve ever seen. Released in several volumes by Fantastic Audio in and around 2001, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke is a treasure and is still available in stores and on Audible. The individual volumes are:

• The Lion of Comarre & Other Stories: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (1937-1949)
• Earthlight & Other Stories: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (1950-1951)
• The Nine Billion Names of God & Other Stories: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (1951-1956)
• The Songs of Distant Earth: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (1956-1961)
• The Shining Ones & Other Stories: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (1961-1999)

Lastly, there’s a “Best Of” collection that is a good selection from all the others (with notable omissions that will make you want all of them), called The Best Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.

All of the stories are unabridged, and they are all in there—“The Star,” “The Nine Billion Names of God,” “The Sentinel” (which was the inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey), “Earthlight,” “The Other Side of the Sky,” and on and on. You can find the ideas that appear in most of Clarke’s novels in these short stories, and they are very well presented by a wide range of narrators, including Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir, David Birney, and Michael York. Clarke’s introductory material is also included, also read by the various narrators.

Last year, which was seven years since Fantastic Audio published their Clarke titles, Random House Audio produced a big (but not exhaustive) collection of George R.R. Martin’s short fiction. Perhaps the success of that will spawn more of these big audio author collections. I can hope!

The British Science Fiction Association Awards have been given out, but the week before, Tony C. Smith and the folks at StarShipSofa podcast each story in the Best Short Fiction category. “Lighting Out” by Ken MacLeod, “Terminal” by Chaz Brenchley, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang, “The Gift of Joy” by Ian Whates, and “The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter” by Alastair Reynolds were all podcast, one per day in a five-day span. The narration is great, as are the stories; this is prime evidence that there are things happening in the podcast world that audiobook listeners shouldn’t miss.