"Tales from the White Hart" by Arthur C. Clarke (1957)

"One of the reasons why I am never too specific about the location of the 'White Hart' is frankly, because we want to keep it to ourselves.  This is not merely a  dog-in-the-manger attitude: we have to do it in pure self-protection.  As soon as it gets around that scientists, editors and science fiction writers are forgathering at some locality, the weirdest collection of visitors is likely to turn up.  Peculiar people with new theories of the universe, characters who have been 'cleared' by Dianetics (God knows what they were like before), intense ladies who are liable to go all clairvoyant after the fourth gin -- these are the less exotic specimens."

Arthur C. Clarke has been discussed here several times already, so I'll dispense with the short biography and bibliography.  Needless to say, I regard him as one of "the greats," and I consider his Childhood's End to be a must-read science fiction novel.  During his lifetime he was often grouped alongside Asimov and Heinlein as one of the three masters of the genre.

This said, Tales from the White Hart is definitely one of his lesser efforts.  In the introduction the author describes this collection as an assortment of "scientific tall tales," a type of story which was never going to find a wide audience.  Science fiction is, after all, a genre that leans on scientific concepts for a sense of verisimilitude, while most of these stories invert that very premise, introducing narratives predicated on an incomplete or faulty understanding of the scientific concepts they are predicated upon.

One of the stories in this collection might have been the inspiration for Little Shop of Horrors, though there was an earlier story by another author that might instead be the inspiration for that film.  Sentient, carnivorous plants weren't unknown to science fiction writers in the 50s, though the initial publication of Clarke's story was much closer to the time in which Charles B. Griffith wrote the screenplay to Roger Corman's movie.

This anthology was, I thought, simply OK overall, with the story What Goes Up being the standout.  This story, featuring a nuclear power plant that goes "anti-gravitational," should be required reading for anyone writing comic books.  It's unique in that it only follows its particular line of reasoning so far, and after that point it throws up its hands, leaving the reader to sort plausibility from unfounded speculation.

Which leads me to wonder how much of a future the "scientific tall tales" genre ever had.  It is, in Clarke's hands at least, a fun exercise, but given the rate at which science fiction ages I'm not sure how much of need there is for it.  If you don't believe me go back and read some science fiction from the 1950s.  Tall tales?  Almost all of the science fiction written during that time could have fit that definition, given how little the general public knew about astrophysics, quantum mechanics and related topics.  I would agree that given the tenor of the Space Race more people at the time were better acquainted with the general scientific concepts available to them, but we've learned a lot since that time, and our reservoir of knowledge is only growing.

For that matter there's Jules Verne to consider.  Tall tales?  From Earth to the Moon says hello.

All told (heh heh), Tales from the White Hart is a short, rather amusing book and I can't fault it overmuch.  It's worth a read if you're already acquainted with Clarke's more famous books, but if you aren't I'd give it a miss.

Related Entries:

"Darwin's Radio" by Greg Bear (1999)

"Traitor to the Living" by Philip Jose Farmer (1973)

"Time War" by Lin Carter (1974)

"2034" by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis (2021)

The Best-Selling Sci-Fi Novels of All Time?

I'm using the list from the Book Haven site.  This seemed like the most reasonable example to me.  Other online lists include books like Lord of the Rings, or present the list entries in a questionable order.  The Book Haven list is of course also open to debate, but given my years (decades!) reading throughout the genre, it seemed like the most reasonable example.

Defining what science fiction is can be tricky.  Is C.S. Lewis's "Space Trilogy" science fiction?  Is Infinite Jest?  Is A Canticle for Leibowitz?  At the end of the day, labels like "science fiction" are always open to debate - no more or less so than labels used for types of music, or food, or cultures.

There is also the question as to what "best-selling" means.  Given that there are more science fiction readers alive now than ever before, should we assign Orson Scott Card precedence over Frederick Pohl?  Or should we adjust the term "best-selling" to account for percentages of the market at any given time?  Surely the influence of certain authors counts for something, and just because Robert Heinlein's sold more books than Jules Verne doesn't mean that he's influenced more people.

1. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein

I can't stand Robert Heinlein.  Believe me, I've tried.  He has to be one of the most condescending authors ever, and aside from the usual "space aliens and rocketships" tropes, I've found very little substance in any of his books.

It seems to me that only those who read Heinlein in their youth would be able to develop a fondness for this author.  Anyone else - anyone first exposed to much better science fiction - would probably avoid him. 

2. "Dune" by Frank Herbert

The first novel is fairly overrated, although it was definitely revolutionary for its time.  Some of the later entries in the series are excellent.  I'm a big fan of both Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune.  Heretics of Dune is also great, but Dune and Children of Dune are ponderous in the extreme.  And Chapterhouse Dune?  Simply terrible.

If you've read this blog for a while, you're probably aware of my fondness for Frank Herbert.  This is partly due to nostalgia, partly due to his origins in the Pacific Northwest, and partly due to the more interesting entries in his bibliography.

If you've already read through the Dune books, I highly recommend The Godmakers, Soul Catcher, the Eyes of Heisenberg, and Hellstrom's Hive.  Many of the ideas first presented in these non-Dune books were later folded into the Dune series, and a reading of these four novels will enhance your enjoyment of Herbert's best-known series.

One of the strangest things about Frank Herbert is that his WORST novel, The White Plague, seems to be everywhere. 
 

3. "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke

A lot of this book was hammered out in the presence of Stanley Kubrick, while they were putting together the screenplay for the film.  For this reason I don't think you can give Clarke ALL the credit for 2001, though he certainly did most of the heavy lifting.

Despite writing a few crappy books, Clarke refrained from writing any as crappy as the latter entries into Asimov's "I, Robot" series.  He was, generally speaking, a better writer than Asimov, and one of the things I appreciate most about Clarke is his succinctness.  Some of Asimov's later books really feel like he was grinding out his obligation toward a publisher, whereas Clarke, even at his worst, wrote engaging stories that can still be appreciated today.

The three sequels to 2001 are all good.  None of them will blow your mind, but they're all solidly written and very readable.  For Clarke at his best, see entry #9 below.

4. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

If you're wondering why people still worship these books, you'll probably also wonder why people like Monty Python and Doctor Who.  They're predicated upon a very British sense of humor, and those with more "American" tastes will be mystified by them.

For my part, I loved all of the books in the series.  Life, the Universe and Everything is my favorite, but I thought they were funny right up to the last book.

I haven't read anything else that Douglas Adams has done.  My impression is that his other novels aren't quite up to the same level?  I could be wrong, but they don't seem to enjoy the same kind of audience.

5. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury always struck me as a writer of "serious fiction" trapped in the body of a sci-fi writer.  He'll spend pages waxing poetic over spaceflight, but the stories in which these mini-poems are to be found are all very minimal - little more than outlines.

Is Fahrenheit 451 his best book?  I'm not sure.  It's certainly the best known.  I can remember being unimpressed with it, and both his Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man seemed much better at the time. 

6. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

Why is this Dick's best-known book?  Because Blade Runner.  Ridley Scott's ode to AI was adapted from Dick's novella.

In a way this is unfortunate because Dick wrote much better stuff.  But then again, I suppose "Do Androids?" is merely an entry point to Dick's catalog, an appetizer if you will, and those seeking true strangeness will find Dick's other books, eventually.

Of all the writers discussed here, PKD (as he is often referred to) is by far the trippiest, and maybe also the best.  His stories of time travel, alien intelligences, and alternate timelines continue to exert a powerful influence over the popular imagination, and it's safe to say that modern science fiction would be much, much poorer without him.

If you want to get WEIRD, I suggest spending a week(end) with his VALIS trilogy.  Fans of more conventional sci-fi will likely prefer novels such as Martian Time Slip and The Man in the High Castle.  Whichever point of entry you chose, it's worth looking over Dick's bibliography beforehand.  He wrote a lot of books, and although none of them are really "bad," many of them are very similar.

7. "The Foundation Series" by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was a smart guy.  He also wrote some of the most important books in all of science fiction.  I, Robot and the first (published) Foundation book are brilliant, and the only reason these books aren't the source of more films is the fact that they are, for the most part, unfilmable.

Even so, Asimov wrote a lot of crap.  His Foundation series goes downhill fast, and his I, Robot series goes downhill even faster.  Some of these books contain interesting ideas, but these ideas alone aren't enough reason to struggle through most of his novels.

If you really want to know Isaac Asimov, the best way is through the short stories that made him famous.  It's in stories like "Jokester" that Asimov really shines, and I have had ample cause to regret that he gave up short fiction for the more lucrative novel.

8. "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card

Before you embrace Orson Scott Card too enthusiastically, be aware that he is 1) a practicing Mormon, 2) believes that homosexuality should be illegal, and 3) believes in "Intelligent Design" (i.e. the Biblical account of creation).

With this said, I don't think you can always hold every author responsible for every ridiculous thing he or she believes.  Many famous authors were chauvinists, many were racists, and many others also believed that the Bible should be taken literally on all points.  The problem here is that Orson Scott Card is a writer of science fiction, and many (if not all) of the beliefs listed above speak against a scientific understanding of the world.  If you're only after "space aliens and rocketships" this is no problem, but if you're after fiction based on sound, scientific conceptions of the cosmos this is definitely an issue.

For what it's worth, I've read both Ender's Game and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead.  Ender's Game is a fairly competent effort, though Speaker for the Dead is, in my opinion, bad.  I did like Card's take on Iron Man in Ultimate Iron Man, but I can't say that I've bothered to read him since.  To put it simply, there are much better writers out there, and Card's belief system hinders his development beyond the established tropes of the genre.

9. "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke

This book is fantastic.  It remains one of the best science fiction novels ever written, and displays a level of prose unmatched by anything Clarke did after.  It deserves the praise it has received, and it was written with an economy that few other science fiction writers can match.

10. "Gateway" by Frederick Pohl 

It's been SO long since I've read this book that I can't really say much about it.  I remember reading this and its sequels when I was in elementary school, but my recall of any Frederick Pohl books is sketchy.  Maybe I should read him again?

"The Songs of Distant Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke (1985)

"And one day our descendants will know seas like yours, though not as wide or as deep.  Water from our two worlds will mingle together, bringing life to our new home.  And we will remember you with love and gratitude."

The Songs of Distant Earth was published about halfway through Clarke's career, though it was a story he'd been presenting in various forms since 1958.  While substantially different from books like Childhood's End and 2001, it uses themes that will be familiar from other novels and short stories by the same author.

After our solar system perishes, the "seed ships" sent by the last (terrestrial) humans colonize several worlds in other galaxies.  These seed ships carry only embryos in cold storage, and the human populations which they seed on their respective worlds develop with only a limited knowledge of their home world's history and culture.  

On one of these other worlds, a watery world by the name of Thalassa, a group of humans from Earth's "last days" arrives to harvest ice for an onward journey to an unsettled planet.  What results is a clash of cultures - the Thalassans, with their minimal knowledge of mankind's heritage, versus the Earthlings, a smaller group equipped with both advanced technology and a fuller knowledge of Earth's vanished culture.

It is, in other words, Mutiny on the Bounty in space.  There's even a mutinous character named Fletcher, and the captain of the Earth ship's name is Bey (if not Bligh).  And in case you missed the metaphor, Clarke hammers it home with all the subtlety of a jackhammer breaking up pavement.  By the time you reach the book's conclusion, you'll wonder why he didn't just call it "Mutiny on the Bounty in Space" and be done with it.

In terms of style I can't fault the author.  We're talking about Arthur C. Clarke, after all - a guy who at his best put most other science fiction authors to shame.  But in terms of characterization this book struggles.  Everyone in this book is so damn reasonable that it's hard to care about what happens to them, or why.  One of the best parts of the book (death by space elevator!) is also wasted because the author hasn't spent enough time building up that particular character.

Clarke also uses the novel to talk about both homosexuality and the (non)existence of God.  On the first count he succeeds admirably, and I felt glad that he could, at a later stage of life, open up about this topic.  But the debates on godhood feel forced, and have no direct bearing on the plot.

In my opinion, the 1980s wasn't a good decade for science fiction, and The Songs of Distant Earth goes some distance toward refuting that opinion.  Even so, it isn't nearly as good as other things written by Clarke, and the professional skill with which he wrote it doesn't make up for the fact that it's a predictable book full of uninteresting characters.

Best of Summer/Fall 2013

I've been reading A LOT of books.

But after "Collapse," the last book reviewed here, I am now without any books to read.  This will probably be the case until at least Chinese New Year, when I'm sure I'll be in Taipei, Kaohsiung, or some other place where I can buy books.  Until then, consider this the end of my book reviews.

You can click on the titles for a longer review of each book.

10 Best Books

1. "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke

This is the book that made Clarke famous, and this is also a book that proves his fame is well-deserved.  Not only is it well thought out and meticulously plotted, but the prose is far superior to what you find in most science fiction novels.  Truly a great work by a great writer.

2. "A Century of Science Fiction 1950-1959" edited by Robert Silverberg

There are a few stories in this one that are probably best forgotten, but for each forgettable story there are two excellent works of short fiction.  My favorites in this one were the stories by Philip Jose Farmer and Jack Vance.

3. "The Gates of Creation" by Philip Jose Farmer

Kind of like Conan the Barbarian meets Dune.  This is the second book in Farmer's "World of Tiers" series, and I would love to read the other two books.  Farmer might have written a lot of crap, but this novel is excellent.

4. "Soul Catcher" by Frank Herbert

Perhaps the only "serious" (non-genre) fiction penned by Herbert.  This one takes place in the Pacific Northwest, where an Indian guide kidnaps a young boy.  The ending is a bit disappointing, but this book gets deep.

5. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Possibly one of the most profound science fiction novels ever written.   Miller Jr.'s novel of post-apocalyptic survival does not make for easy reading, but it is the kind of book that makes an impression.

6. "Venus Plus X" by Theodore Sturgeon

This book is trippy, and I like that.  One of Theodore Sturgeon's two most famous books, this one explores the battle of the sexes from the perspective of an alien race.  Even if you don't agree with the author's historical premise, it's still a great story.

7. "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy

The first book in McCarthy's "Border Trilogy."  This one follows two friends as they explore Mexico on horseback.  The part in the Mexican prison is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read.

8. "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

Even if some of this book does invite unflattering comparisons to Faulkner, Morrison's "Jazz" is very much its own novel, with its own kind of story to tell.  Definitely worth reading.

9. "Peace on Earth" by Stanislaw Lem

Lem at his most slapstick, and Lem at his most paranoid.  An astronaut visits robots on the moon, and returns with a brain severed into two halves.  Certainly one of the strangest and best science fiction novels I've ever read.

10. "Radio Free Albemuth" by Philip K. Dick

A nice companion to Dick's VALIS.  In this book, which can be considered a forerunner of that more famous book, Dick explores the relationship between a record executive, the extraterrestrial intelligence offering him "enlightenment," and a tyrant bent on (inter)national domination. 

Honorable Mention: Frank Herbert's "The Eyes of Heisenberg"

5 Books That Just Weren't Very Good

1. "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny

Buddha without the Buddhism.  Science fiction without the science.  Gods war against one another with gizmos, and none of it makes a great deal of sense.

2. "The Heaven Makers" by Frank Herbert

Wow this book was boring.  One of the worst books Herbert ever wrote, and certainly one of the reasons people can't take him seriously outside of "Dune."  The sexual parts were almost interesting, but they couldn't save the book.

3. "Gather, Darkness!" by Fritz Leiber

An order of monks brainwash the populace with a technology they themselves don't understand.  This one might make even less sense than "Lord of Light."

4. "The White Plague" by Frank Herbert

Wow this book is even more boring than "The Heaven Makers" - and also a lot longer.  A plague decimates the women of the world, and leaves the men searching for answers.  It tries to be deep, but fails miserably.

5. "Microworlds" by Stanislaw Lem

Lem comes across as a cranky old man in the non-fiction "Microworlds."  I am sorry that he ever wrote this book, for the simple reason that it will dissuade people from reading his novels - some of which are fantastic.  In this book Lem attempts to put science fiction under a microscope, but the order of magnification is so high that he fails to see anything of substance.

Dishonorable Mention: Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Planet Savers/Sword of Aldones."