Page references are to the SF Masterworks edition, shown here. Clarke Gollancz/SF Masterworks, 2002Ĭover art Fred Gambino. This is as suspenseful a novel as I think Clarke ever wrote, and though its central premise turned out to be wrong (fortunately), the problem and its solution are clearly laid out and dramatically narrated. GistĪ tourist ship sinks into a sea of dust on the Moon and the narrative follows the efforts of the ship’s crew to keep the passengers alive, and of rescuers on the surface to reach and rescue them. What if the smooth areas of the lunar surface, those “maria,” were seas of fine dust? So fine that a spacecraft attempting to land there might simply sink into the dust and vanish? Clarke had speculated about this at least once before, in Earthlight, his 1955 novel, covered briefly below in Moondust the central premise is that yes, the seas are areas of dust so fine they can be “sailed” upon. The premise of Moondust involves what some scientists were worried about back before the earliest probes reached the Moon (the first one was the Soviet Luna 2, in 1959). (In fact, Wikipedia notes this novel’s similarity to a 1978 film about a stranded submarine, Gray Lady Down.)

Specifically, it’s about a search and rescue mission, anticipating the spate of “disaster” movies (and associated novels) about groups of civilians trapped in some situation (burning skyscraper, disabled passenger jet, and so on) and the parallel efforts of rescuers to save them, that were popular especially in the ‘70s. Famous early stories like “Technical Error” and “Superiority” dealt with issues of problematic future technology.Ĭlarke’s 1962 novel A Fall of Moondust is very much a story of technical problems and how they are solved (and the resolution is a happier one than those in the other titles just mentioned). And of course the center section of 2001 is all about diagnosing a malfunctioning part, and dealing with a malfunctioning supercomputer. Prelude to Space (covered here) has its philosophical overtones, but is basically about the technical and political issues of launching a rocket to the moon. But another type of story turns up regularly throughout his career: the near-term technological puzzle story. Clarke is best known for his visionary, philosophical tales of human destiny, with their explorations of the depths of time and space, their brushing contact with godlike aliens: Childhood’s End, The City and the Stars, “The Star,” “The Nine Billion Names of God,” and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke First Edition: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962.Ĭover art Arthur Hawkins.

The nine billion names of god themes