The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, (ISBN 0-575-07065-X), first published in 2001, is a collection of almost every science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 story shorter than novel length that Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

 has ever published: with 114 in all arranged in order of publication, "Travel by Wire!

Travel by Wire! (short story)

"Travel by Wire!" is Arthur C. Clarke's first published story. It was first published in December 1937 in the magazine Amateur Science Stories. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1955...

" in 1937 through to "Improving the Neighbourhood

Improving the Neighbourhood

"Improving the Neighbourhood" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in Nature on November 4th 1999 and was the first piece of science fiction Nature ever published. It is also the last story included in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, where it...

" in 1999. The story "Improving The Neighbourhood" has the distinction of being the first fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 published in the journal

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 Nature

Nature (journal)

Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

. The titles "Venture to the Moon" and "The Other Side of the Sky", are not stories but the series titles for groups of six interconnected stories, each story with its own title. This collection is missing the story "When the Twerms Came" which appears in his other collections "More Than One Universe

More Than One Universe

More Than One Universe: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke is a collection of science fiction short stories by Arthur C. Clarke originally published in 1991....

" and "The View from Serendip". This edition contains a foreword by Clarke written in 2000, where he specualates on the science fiction genre in relation to the concept of short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

. Furthermore, many of the stories have a short introduction about its publication history or its literary nature.

In addition to the printed edition, an audio edition was published by Fantastic Audio in 2001. The audio edition, comprising five volumes, runs nearly fifty hours.

Contents

• Foreword

1. "Travel by Wire!
   Travel by Wire! (short story)
   "Travel by Wire!" is Arthur C. Clarke's first published story. It was first published in December 1937 in the magazine Amateur Science Stories. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1955...
   
   "
2. "How We Went to Mars
   How We Went to Mars
   "How We Went to Mars" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in March 1938 in the third and final issue of the magazine Amateur Science Stories. This humorous story is about a group of British rocket scientists who travel to Mars aboard one of their rockets and their...
   
   "
3. "Retreat from Earth"
4. "Reverie"
5. "The Awakening"
6. "Whacky"
7. "Loophole
   Loophole (short story)
   Loophole is a science fiction short story written by Arthur C. Clarke and first published in 1946 in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in Expedition to Earth in 1953. This story details the concern of the advanced Martian...
   
   "
8. "Rescue Party"
9. "Technical Error"
10. "Castaway"
11. "The Fires Within"
12. "Inheritance
    Inheritance (short story)
    "Inheritance" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, which was first published in 1947 in New Worlds, no. 3, as by 'Charles Willis'....
    
    "
13. "Nightfall"
14. "History Lesson
    History Lesson (short story)
    "History Lesson" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949.The two-part story speculates on the cooling of the Sun as a doomsday scenario for Earth and an evolutionary advent for Venus.-Plot summary:...
    
    "
15. "Transience
    Transience (Arthur C Clarke short story)
    "Transience" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke.Probably the most interesting aspect of this story is its opening part - reluctant exploration of the surrounding world by a little child in a way that reminds of the first story in 2001: A Space Odyssey.The story is told through the medium of...
    
    "
16. "The Wall of Darkness"
17. "The Lion of Comarre"
18. "The Forgotten Enemy
    The Forgotten Enemy
    "The Forgotten Enemy" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke that appeared in the science fiction magazine New Worlds, in August 1949. It was included in Clarke's collection of science fiction short stories Reach for Tomorrow, in 1956...
    
    "
19. "Hide-and-Seek"
20. "Breaking Strain
    Breaking Strain (short story)
    "Breaking Strain," also known as "Thirty Seconds Thirty Days," is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949. It was adapted into a movie in 1994 under the title .-Plot summary:...
    
    "
21. "Nemesis
    Nemesis (short story)
    "Exile of the Eons" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in Super Science Stories and was later collected in Expedition to Earth under the title "Nemesis". It is also collected in The Collected Stories of Arthur C...
    
    "
22. "Guardian Angel"
23. "Time's Arrow
    Time's Arrow (short story)
    "Time's Arrow" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1950.This is the story of a human visit to time when dinosaurs still roamed earth, in a time machine. Probably accidentally, as hinted towards the end of the story....
    
    "
24. "A Walk in the Dark"
25. "Silence Please"
26. "Trouble with the Natives
    Trouble with the Natives
    "Trouble with the Natives" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1951. This comic story describes the pains of aliens visiting an English village, as every effort at contact with humans gets frustrated...
    
    "
27. "The Road to the Sea"
28. "The Sentinel
    The Sentinel (short story)
    "The Sentinel" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, which was expanded and modified into the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke expressed impatience with the common description of it as "the story on which 2001 is based." He was quoted as saying, it is like comparing "an acorn to...
    
    "
29. "Holiday On the Moon"
30. "Earthlight
    Earthlight (short story)
    "Earthlight" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke first published in the August 1951 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. It was later expanded into the novel Earthlight in 1955.-Plot summary:...
    
    "
31. "Second Dawn"
32. "Superiority
    Superiority (short story)
    "Superiority" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1951. It depicts an arms race, and shows how the side which is more technologically advanced can be defeated, despite its apparent superiority, because of its own organizational flaws and its willingness to...
    
    "
33. "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth"
34. "All The Time in the World"
35. "The Nine Billion Names of God
    The Nine Billion Names of God
    "The Nine Billion Names of God" is a 1953 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. The story was the winner of the retrospective Hugo Award for Best Short Story for the year 1954.-Plot summary:...
    
    "
36. "The Possessed
    The Possessed (short story)
    "The Possessed" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1953.-Plot summary:The story deals with a kind of parasitic aliens that do not have a physical body, and must colonize the minds of some intelligent beings to enjoy life...
    
    "
37. "The Parasite"
38. "Jupiter Five
    Jupiter Five
    "Jupiter Five" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke first published in the magazine If in 1953. It appeared again in Clarke's collection of short stories Reach for Tomorrow, in 1956, and deals with the detection and exploration of an old spaceship from outside the Solar System.-Plot...
    
    "
39. "Encounter in the Dawn
    Encounter in the Dawn
    "Encounter in the Dawn" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke published in 1953 in the magazine Amazing Stories. It was originally collected in the anthology Expedition to Earth, and, in one edition of the book, is titled "Expedition to Earth". In a later collection the title "Encounter at...
    
    "
40. "The Other Tiger"
41. "Publicity Campaign"
42. "Armaments Race"
43. "The Deep Range"
44. "No Morning After"
45. "Big Game Hunt"
46. "Patent Pending
    Patent Pending (Arthur C Clarke short story)
    "Patent Pending" is a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke which was first published in 1954. It also appears in his collection of "science fiction tall tales," Tales from the White Hart....
    
    "
47. "Refugee"
48. "The Star
    The Star (short story)
    "The Star" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as "Star of Bethlehem"...
    
    "
49. "What Goes Up"
50. "Venture to the Moon
    Venture to the Moon
    Venture to the Moon is a group of six linked science fiction short stories by Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in Evening Standard in 1956. The stories describe the first manned mission to the Moon in 1975, as a joint American-Russian-British mission, and are narrated in first...
    
    " (six individual connected stories)
51. "The Starting Line"
52. "Robin Hood, F.R.S."
53. "Green Fingers"
54. "All that Glitters"
55. "Watch this Space"
56. "A Question of Residence"
57. "The Pacifist
    The Pacifist (Arthur C Clarke short story)
    "The Pacifist" is a jocose short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1956 in Fantastic Universe. It appears in his collection of "science fiction tall tales," Tales from the White Hart....
    
    "
58. "The Reluctant Orchid"
59. "Moving Spirit"
60. "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch
    The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch
    "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" is a short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, included in his collection Tales from the White Hart....
    
    "
61. "The Ultimate Melody"
62. "The Next Tenants"
63. "Cold War"
64. "Sleeping Beauty"
65. "Security Check"
66. "The Man Who Ploughed the Sea"
67. "Critical Mass"
68. "The Other Side of the Sky" (six individual connected stories)
69. "Special Delivery"
70. "Feathered Friends"
71. "Take a Deep Breath"
72. "Freedom of Space"
73. "Passer-by"
74. "The Call of the Stars"
75. "Let There Be Light"
76. "Out of the Sun"
77. "Cosmic Casanova"
78. "The Songs of Distant Earth"
79. "A Slight Case of Sunstroke"
80. "Who's There?"
81. "Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting..."
82. "I Remember Babylon
    I Remember Babylon
    "I Remember Babylon" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in 1959 and reprinted in the 1962 collection Tales of Ten Worlds.-Plot summary:...
    
    "
83. "Trouble with Time"
84. "Into the Comet
    Into the Comet
    "Into the Comet" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1960. It is one of several stories by many science fiction authors in which problems are solved by reverting to 'primitive' technology...
    
    "
85. "Summertime on Icarus
    Summertime on Icarus
    "Summertime on Icarus" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1960. It was also published under the title "The Hottest Piece of Real Estate in the Solar System".-Plot summary:...
    
    "
86. "Saturn Rising"
87. "Death and the Senator
    Death and the Senator
    "Death and the Senator" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1960 and has since been included in several collections of Clarke's writings.-Plot summary:...
    
    "
88. "Before Eden"
89. "Hate
    Hate (short story)
    "Hate" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1960 and subsequently included in several collections of Clarke's writings, including The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. The story originated when movie producer William MacQuitty asked Clarke to write a film...
    
    "
90. "Love That Universe"
91. "Dog Star
    Dog Star (short story)
    "Dog Star" is a 1961 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke about an astronomer and his dog, Laika. The story was also published under the title "Moondog".-Plot summary:...
    
    "
92. "Maelstrom II"
93. "An Ape About the House"
94. "The Shining Ones"
95. "The Secret
    The Secret (short story)
    "The Secret" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1963. It was first titled "The Secret of the Men on the Moon" when published in This Week magazine...
    
    "
96. "Dial F for Frankenstein"
97. "The Wind from the Sun
    Sunjammer
    "Sunjammer" is a science fiction short story by English author Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1963. It has also been published under the title "The Wind from the Sun" and has been included into Clarke's 1972 collection of short stories with this title.-Plot summary:John...
    
    "
98. "The Food of the Gods
    The Food of the Gods (short story)
    "The Food of the Gods" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1961. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection The Wind from the Sun in 1972....
    
    "
99. "The Last Command"
100. "Light of Darkness"
101. "The Longest Science-fiction Story Ever Told"
102. "Playback"
103. "The Cruel Sky"
104. "Herbert George Morley Roberts Wells, Esq."
105. "Crusade"
106. "Neutron Tide
     Neutron Tide
     "Neutron Tide" is a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke. It is among his shortest pieces of writing, consisting solely of a 2-page, detailed description of a futuristic scenario in order to use a pun as a punch-line.-Plot summary:...
     
     "
107. "Reunion"
108. "Transit of Earth"
109. "A Meeting with Medusa
     A Meeting with Medusa
     A Meeting with Medusa is a science fiction novella by Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1971 and has since been included in several collections of Clarke's writings.-Plot summary:...
     
     "
110. "Quarantine"
111. "'siseneG': 'Genesis' spelled backwards"
112. "The Steam-powered Word Processor"
113. "On Golden Seas"
114. "The Hammer of God"
115. "The Wire Continuum" (with Stephen Baxter)
116. "Improving the Neighbourhood
     Improving the Neighbourhood
     "Improving the Neighbourhood" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in Nature on November 4th 1999 and was the first piece of science fiction Nature ever published. It is also the last story included in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, where it...
     
     "