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2001: An Odyssey In Words: Honouring the Centenary of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's Birth
Produced to honour the centenary of Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s birth, this anthology acts as a fund raiser for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Original SF stories of precisely 2001 words from some of the biggest names in science fiction, including 10 winners of the Clarke Award and 13 authors who have been shortlisted, as well as non-fiction from thrice-winner China Miéville and former judge Neil Gaiman. Contents:
Introduction
Golgotha – Dave Hutchinson
The Monoliths of Mars – Paul McAuley
Murmuration – Jane Rogers
Ouroboros – Ian R MacLeod
The Escape Hatch – Matthew De Abaitua
Childhood’s Friend – Rachel Pollack
Takes from the White Hart – Bruce Sterling
Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! – Emma Newman
Distraction – Gwyneth Jones
Dancers – Allen Stroud
Entropy War – Yoon Ha Lee
The Ontologist – Liz Williams
Waiting in the Sky – Tom Hunter
The Collectors – Adrian Tchaikovsky
I Saw Three Ships – Phillip Mann
Before They Left – Colin Greenland
Drawn From the Eye – Jeff Noon
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold – Emmi Itäranta
The Fugue – Stephanie Holman
Memories of a Table – Chris Beckett
Child of Ours – Claire North
Would-Be A.I., Tell Us a Tale! #241: Sell ’em Back in Time! by Hali Hallison – Ian Watson
Last Contact – Becky Chambers
The Final Fable – Ian Whates
Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae – Ian McDonald
Child – Adam Roberts
Providence – Alastair Reynolds
2001: A Space Prosthesis – The Extensions of Man – Andrew M. Butler (non-fiction)
On Judging The Clarke Award – Neil Gaiman (non-fiction)
Once More on the 3rd Law – China Miéville (non-fiction)
Introduction
Golgotha – Dave Hutchinson
The Monoliths of Mars – Paul McAuley
Murmuration – Jane Rogers
Ouroboros – Ian R MacLeod
The Escape Hatch – Matthew De Abaitua
Childhood’s Friend – Rachel Pollack
Takes from the White Hart – Bruce Sterling
Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! – Emma Newman
Distraction – Gwyneth Jones
Dancers – Allen Stroud
Entropy War – Yoon Ha Lee
The Ontologist – Liz Williams
Waiting in the Sky – Tom Hunter
The Collectors – Adrian Tchaikovsky
I Saw Three Ships – Phillip Mann
Before They Left – Colin Greenland
Drawn From the Eye – Jeff Noon
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold – Emmi Itäranta
The Fugue – Stephanie Holman
Memories of a Table – Chris Beckett
Child of Ours – Claire North
Would-Be A.I., Tell Us a Tale! #241: Sell ’em Back in Time! by Hali Hallison – Ian Watson
Last Contact – Becky Chambers
The Final Fable – Ian Whates
Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae – Ian McDonald
Child – Adam Roberts
Providence – Alastair Reynolds
2001: A Space Prosthesis – The Extensions of Man – Andrew M. Butler (non-fiction)
On Judging The Clarke Award – Neil Gaiman (non-fiction)
Once More on the 3rd Law – China Miéville (non-fiction)
202 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2018
42 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Ian Whates
120 books77 followersIan Whates lives in a comfortable home down a quiet cul-de-sac in an idyllic Cambridgeshire village, which he shares with his partner Helen and their pets – Honey the golden cocker spaniel, Calvin the tailless black cat and Inky the goldfish (sadly, Binky died a few years ago).
Ian’s earliest memories of science fiction are fragmented. He remembers loving Dr Who from an early age and other TV shows such as Lost in Space and Star Trek, but a defining moment came when he heard a radio adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. From that moment on he was hooked and became a frequent haunter of the local library, voraciously devouring the contents of their SF section.
This early love of science fiction manifested most tellingly during his school days, when he produced an SF murder mystery as homework after being set the essay title “The Language of Shakespeare”, much to the bemusement of his English teacher.
Ian’s first published stories appeared in the late 1980s in small press magazines such as Dream and New Moon Quarterly, after which he took a break from writing in order to research his chosen fields of science fiction and fantasy. In other words, he read copious amounts of both. Clearly the research was extensive, because he published nothing further for some seventeen years. In the early 2000s he made the decision to pursue writing seriously, joining the Northampton SF Writers Group in 2004 after being introduced to its chairman, Ian Watson.
In 2006 he started submitting stories again, and has subsequently been surprised at how many otherwise eminently sensible people have chosen to publish him. A couple have even appeared in the science journal Nature, and one, “The Gift of Joy”, even found its way onto the five-strong shortlist for best short story in the British Science Fiction Association Awards. And it didn’t come last! Ironically, the award was actually won by Ken MacLeod’s “Lighting Out”, a piece Ian had commissioned, edited and published in the NewCon Press anthology disLOCATIONS (2007).
In 2006 Ian launched independent publisher NewCon Press, quite by accident (buy him a pint sometime and he’ll tell you about it). Through NewCon he has been privileged to publish original stories from some of the biggest names in genre fiction, as well as provide debuts to some genuinely talented newcomers. The books, their covers and contents have racked up an impressive array of credits – four BSFA Awards, one BSF Award to date, inclusion in ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies and recommendations and honourable mentions from the likes of Gardner Dozios and Locus magazine.
In addition to his publishing and writing, Ian is currently a director of both the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), editing Matrix, the online news and media reviews magazine, for the latter.
His first two completed novels are both due to appear in early 2010: City of Dreams and Nightmare via Harper Collins’ imprint Angry Robot, and The Noise Within from Rebellion imprint Solaris, with sequels to follow. When not pinching himself to make sure this is all really happening, Ian is currently beavering away at the sequels… honest!
Ian’s earliest memories of science fiction are fragmented. He remembers loving Dr Who from an early age and other TV shows such as Lost in Space and Star Trek, but a defining moment came when he heard a radio adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. From that moment on he was hooked and became a frequent haunter of the local library, voraciously devouring the contents of their SF section.
This early love of science fiction manifested most tellingly during his school days, when he produced an SF murder mystery as homework after being set the essay title “The Language of Shakespeare”, much to the bemusement of his English teacher.
Ian’s first published stories appeared in the late 1980s in small press magazines such as Dream and New Moon Quarterly, after which he took a break from writing in order to research his chosen fields of science fiction and fantasy. In other words, he read copious amounts of both. Clearly the research was extensive, because he published nothing further for some seventeen years. In the early 2000s he made the decision to pursue writing seriously, joining the Northampton SF Writers Group in 2004 after being introduced to its chairman, Ian Watson.
In 2006 he started submitting stories again, and has subsequently been surprised at how many otherwise eminently sensible people have chosen to publish him. A couple have even appeared in the science journal Nature, and one, “The Gift of Joy”, even found its way onto the five-strong shortlist for best short story in the British Science Fiction Association Awards. And it didn’t come last! Ironically, the award was actually won by Ken MacLeod’s “Lighting Out”, a piece Ian had commissioned, edited and published in the NewCon Press anthology disLOCATIONS (2007).
In 2006 Ian launched independent publisher NewCon Press, quite by accident (buy him a pint sometime and he’ll tell you about it). Through NewCon he has been privileged to publish original stories from some of the biggest names in genre fiction, as well as provide debuts to some genuinely talented newcomers. The books, their covers and contents have racked up an impressive array of credits – four BSFA Awards, one BSF Award to date, inclusion in ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies and recommendations and honourable mentions from the likes of Gardner Dozios and Locus magazine.
In addition to his publishing and writing, Ian is currently a director of both the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), editing Matrix, the online news and media reviews magazine, for the latter.
His first two completed novels are both due to appear in early 2010: City of Dreams and Nightmare via Harper Collins’ imprint Angry Robot, and The Noise Within from Rebellion imprint Solaris, with sequels to follow. When not pinching himself to make sure this is all really happening, Ian is currently beavering away at the sequels… honest!
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July 31, 2018This collection was funded through Kickstarter, and has succeeded very nicely as a collection. Each story is exactly 2,001 words long, in homage to the 100th Anniversary of Arthur C. Clarke's birth.
This collection represents good value, overall. Reviews presented here in order of my praise.
Child of Ours
by Claire North. 5 stars! Best of the collection. Surprisingly profound. ❤️
An exquisite treasure, at first seemingly a calculation, and then more. And we find that the gift of love is really the gift of self-determination and personal freedom, best created as loving parents for the possibilities of new life, new consciousness. Extraordinary in 2,001 words.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but Ms North always cuts deep into the heart of me, into that part which wonders at being human. A joy, a blessing so simple yet so profound.
Last Contact
by Becky Chambers. 5 stars! Again, Chambers shows her extraordinary heart. ❤️
Would you have known, two hundred thousand years prior, what those walking leopard snacks were capable of?
Another superb tale from Ms Chambers. She continues to amaze me with the exquisite beauty of her prose of heart and life and being. Here we see the last contact between humans and a yet-to-be intelligent species. Wonderful.
The Ontologist
by Liz Williams. 5 stars! A clever, fun surprise! 😊
Some delicious vocabulary here! Quiddity, haeccity, monism, dichotomous, and hypokeimenon all appearing within just a few sentences. Wow! This is the right way to do word salad! Wooohoooo!
What a delightful, clever exploration of existence through words. The sad pretender, Yoon Ha Lee, abuses words to trick the reader, solely for self-aggrandisement, a shameful disguise of Lee's own failure in mathematics and composition.
Williams exults in the power of words, in their joyous utility, and wraps this celebration inside a cute story full of gentle self-awareness and delight. Utterly wonderful. A gem, a treasure, a triumph in exactly 2,001 words. Awesome!
The Landscape of Nili Fossae
by Ian MacDonald. 4.5 stars. Starts slow, grows on you, especially if you know Rothko
Wonderful, painterly, god of war, red sand, Rothko's fear and fate. This one will stick with me a long time.
Memories of a Table
by Chris Beckett. 4.5 stars. Poignant, especially at my age.
A lovely tale of a remembered love lost, and relived poignantly. A small, perfect gem.
Providence
by Alastair Reynolds. 4 stars. Familiar solid Reynolds here. Delicious but too short.
A terrific little gem from Reynolds, beautifully crafted into 2,001 words of his wonderful prose and plotting. The rescue of a failed mission to first colonise a new world. Very nice.
Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
by Emma Newman. 4 stars.
Clever, nicely presented extension of our digital lifestyles on into the moments of our deaths, with a fun twist at the end.
Dancers
by Allen Stroud. 4 stars.
A prelude HAL 6000 is investigated. Nice clean sci-fi prelude.
Before They Left
by Colin Greenland. 4 stars
A lovely small homage to Childhood's End. Warm and in tune. Very nice.
Fugue
by Stephanie Holman. 4 stars
A nice little "lost lifetime" horror story.
The Escape Hatch
by Matthew De Abaiu. 3.5 stars
An interesting story, a bit more than trifling, with a nice puzzling feeling.
Childhood's Friend
by Rachel Pollock. 3.5 stars
"Darwin's Helpers" make genetic improvements, add knobs. Fun story.
The Final Fable
by Ian Whates. 3.5 stars
A "Tales from the White Hart" homage. Cute, clean and fun.
Monoliths of Mars
by Paul McAuley. 3 stars
A minor homage to monoliths and 2001, with a bit more expanded science and human nature
Mumuration
by Jane Rogers. 3 stars
A tale of meddlesome self-centered humans in an exoplanet Eden. No monoliths in sight.
Ouroboros
by Ian R. MacLeod. 3 stars
A trifling biscuit of a story. Brings to mind "The Nine Billion Names of God", to which number we humans draw perilously close.
No matter how clever and vast the machine, it turns out that it's impossible to replicate whatever that odd glimmer is we all have going on inside our heads.
Full size image
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold
by Emmi Itäranta. 3 stars
A sort-of ghost story. Not bad, some nice imagery. Too short.
Child
by Adam Roberts. 2 stars
A continuation from the end of the movie 2001, but nothing like Clarke. A clumsy homage at best.
Waiting in the Sky
by Tom Hunter. 2 stars
Pretty dull and uncompelling story about the unconvincing dreams of some to colonise Mars.
I Saw a Three Ships
Philip Mann, 2 stars
Vaguely interesting, like the missing early chapter of a real novel.
Drawn from the Eye
by Jeff Noon. 1 star
Very slight, motionless after the first few paragraphs.
Takes from the White Hart
by Bruce Sterling. 0.5 stars
I was once a hard-working journalist on a the environmental beat, back when smart people still pretended that the Earth would get saved....
Almost complete rubbish, a wandering, undisciplined conceit, an insult to the other authors in this book. "Takes" is the right word, as in "stolen" from Clarke's "White Hart pub"
Sell 'em Back in Time...
by Ian Watson. 0 stars
Drivel. Don't bother with this one.
Entropy War
by Yoon Ha Lee. 0 stars
I despised Ninefox Gambit, but I'll start this....
More pretentious crap from Lee. Boring, pedantic, apparently complex but in reality, just chaotic, self-congratulatory fakery as always.
Ugh ugh ugh.
Yoon Ha Lee Word-salad machine gun
To finish off the collection, some (mostly rambling, tiresome) essays:
On Judging the Clarke Award
Neil Gaiman, 1 star
Once More on the Third Law
China Miéville, 1 star
2001 A Space Prosthesis - The Extensions of Man
by Andrew M. Butler, 1 star
.
This collection represents good value, overall. Reviews presented here in order of my praise.
Child of Ours
by Claire North. 5 stars! Best of the collection. Surprisingly profound. ❤️
An exquisite treasure, at first seemingly a calculation, and then more. And we find that the gift of love is really the gift of self-determination and personal freedom, best created as loving parents for the possibilities of new life, new consciousness. Extraordinary in 2,001 words.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but Ms North always cuts deep into the heart of me, into that part which wonders at being human. A joy, a blessing so simple yet so profound.
Last Contact
by Becky Chambers. 5 stars! Again, Chambers shows her extraordinary heart. ❤️
Would you have known, two hundred thousand years prior, what those walking leopard snacks were capable of?
Another superb tale from Ms Chambers. She continues to amaze me with the exquisite beauty of her prose of heart and life and being. Here we see the last contact between humans and a yet-to-be intelligent species. Wonderful.
The Ontologist
by Liz Williams. 5 stars! A clever, fun surprise! 😊
Some delicious vocabulary here! Quiddity, haeccity, monism, dichotomous, and hypokeimenon all appearing within just a few sentences. Wow! This is the right way to do word salad! Wooohoooo!
What a delightful, clever exploration of existence through words. The sad pretender, Yoon Ha Lee, abuses words to trick the reader, solely for self-aggrandisement, a shameful disguise of Lee's own failure in mathematics and composition.
Williams exults in the power of words, in their joyous utility, and wraps this celebration inside a cute story full of gentle self-awareness and delight. Utterly wonderful. A gem, a treasure, a triumph in exactly 2,001 words. Awesome!
The Landscape of Nili Fossae
by Ian MacDonald. 4.5 stars. Starts slow, grows on you, especially if you know Rothko
Wonderful, painterly, god of war, red sand, Rothko's fear and fate. This one will stick with me a long time.
Memories of a Table
by Chris Beckett. 4.5 stars. Poignant, especially at my age.
A lovely tale of a remembered love lost, and relived poignantly. A small, perfect gem.
Providence
by Alastair Reynolds. 4 stars. Familiar solid Reynolds here. Delicious but too short.
A terrific little gem from Reynolds, beautifully crafted into 2,001 words of his wonderful prose and plotting. The rescue of a failed mission to first colonise a new world. Very nice.
Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
by Emma Newman. 4 stars.
Clever, nicely presented extension of our digital lifestyles on into the moments of our deaths, with a fun twist at the end.
Dancers
by Allen Stroud. 4 stars.
A prelude HAL 6000 is investigated. Nice clean sci-fi prelude.
Before They Left
by Colin Greenland. 4 stars
A lovely small homage to Childhood's End. Warm and in tune. Very nice.
Fugue
by Stephanie Holman. 4 stars
A nice little "lost lifetime" horror story.
The Escape Hatch
by Matthew De Abaiu. 3.5 stars
An interesting story, a bit more than trifling, with a nice puzzling feeling.
Childhood's Friend
by Rachel Pollock. 3.5 stars
"Darwin's Helpers" make genetic improvements, add knobs. Fun story.
The Final Fable
by Ian Whates. 3.5 stars
A "Tales from the White Hart" homage. Cute, clean and fun.
Monoliths of Mars
by Paul McAuley. 3 stars
A minor homage to monoliths and 2001, with a bit more expanded science and human nature
Mumuration
by Jane Rogers. 3 stars
A tale of meddlesome self-centered humans in an exoplanet Eden. No monoliths in sight.
Ouroboros
by Ian R. MacLeod. 3 stars
A trifling biscuit of a story. Brings to mind "The Nine Billion Names of God", to which number we humans draw perilously close.
No matter how clever and vast the machine, it turns out that it's impossible to replicate whatever that odd glimmer is we all have going on inside our heads.
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold
by Emmi Itäranta. 3 stars
A sort-of ghost story. Not bad, some nice imagery. Too short.
Child
by Adam Roberts. 2 stars
A continuation from the end of the movie 2001, but nothing like Clarke. A clumsy homage at best.
Waiting in the Sky
by Tom Hunter. 2 stars
Pretty dull and uncompelling story about the unconvincing dreams of some to colonise Mars.
I Saw a Three Ships
Philip Mann, 2 stars
Vaguely interesting, like the missing early chapter of a real novel.
Drawn from the Eye
by Jeff Noon. 1 star
Very slight, motionless after the first few paragraphs.
Takes from the White Hart
by Bruce Sterling. 0.5 stars
I was once a hard-working journalist on a the environmental beat, back when smart people still pretended that the Earth would get saved....
Almost complete rubbish, a wandering, undisciplined conceit, an insult to the other authors in this book. "Takes" is the right word, as in "stolen" from Clarke's "White Hart pub"
Sell 'em Back in Time...
by Ian Watson. 0 stars
Drivel. Don't bother with this one.
Entropy War
by Yoon Ha Lee. 0 stars
I despised Ninefox Gambit, but I'll start this....
More pretentious crap from Lee. Boring, pedantic, apparently complex but in reality, just chaotic, self-congratulatory fakery as always.
Ugh ugh ugh.
Yoon Ha Lee Word-salad machine gun
To finish off the collection, some (mostly rambling, tiresome) essays:
On Judging the Clarke Award
Neil Gaiman, 1 star
Once More on the Third Law
China Miéville, 1 star
2001 A Space Prosthesis - The Extensions of Man
by Andrew M. Butler, 1 star
.
February 19, 2019
An anthology commissioned to commemorate the centenary of Arthur C. Clarke's birthday with the quirk that each story should be exactly 2001 words long. This was commissioned by the Arthur C. Clarke award and NewCon press (independent SF publisher in the UK) and authors who had previously been shortlisted for or won the Arthur C Clarke award were asked to contribute new fiction.
I initially wondered whether the strict word requirement would mean the quality of the stories would suffer but on reading I really couldn't see that this was the case and this was a very strong anthology.
Of particular note were:
Golgotha by Dave Hutchinson where a priest gets involved with first contact.
Murmuration by Jane Rogers - another first contact story but this time with a tragic end.
Dancers by Allen Stroud where an AI called HAL seems to be going wrong.
The Ontologist by Liz Williams - would struggle to explain what this one was about but it was beautiful.
The Collectors by Adrian Tchaikovsky where the remains of an ancient alien civilisation are discovered.
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold by Emmi Itaranta - where ancient myth and aliens meet.
Last Contact by Becky Chambers (I think the title is explanation enough)
Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae by Ian McDonald - art on Mars
Providence by Alastair Reynolds - a final sacrifice made to save the human race.
Some great stories by authors I knew I already liked and some new authors to look out for too (Jane Rogers, Allen Stroud and Liz Williams were new to me).
I initially wondered whether the strict word requirement would mean the quality of the stories would suffer but on reading I really couldn't see that this was the case and this was a very strong anthology.
Of particular note were:
Golgotha by Dave Hutchinson where a priest gets involved with first contact.
Murmuration by Jane Rogers - another first contact story but this time with a tragic end.
Dancers by Allen Stroud where an AI called HAL seems to be going wrong.
The Ontologist by Liz Williams - would struggle to explain what this one was about but it was beautiful.
The Collectors by Adrian Tchaikovsky where the remains of an ancient alien civilisation are discovered.
Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold by Emmi Itaranta - where ancient myth and aliens meet.
Last Contact by Becky Chambers (I think the title is explanation enough)
Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae by Ian McDonald - art on Mars
Providence by Alastair Reynolds - a final sacrifice made to save the human race.
Some great stories by authors I knew I already liked and some new authors to look out for too (Jane Rogers, Allen Stroud and Liz Williams were new to me).
August 26, 2019
This was a book I have seen reference to a number of times and finally thought about giving it a go.
Basically it is a series of short stories celebrating the world of Arthur C Clarke - the challenge being rich story had to be 2001 words long.
Now unlike sister volume (which were related to an existing setting in his works - this book had to be inspired by Mr Clarke so as you can imagine there was a massive range of subject and styles - which meant as you can imagine there was a huge variety.
Now in books like this I will admit that there are stories I love and stories I struggle with and as is always the case its hard to spot one from the other.
So I love the concept and I think it is a unique and fun project though the stories do not always hit the spot for me. What also Impressed me was the range of authors who had contributed to this book it is truly impress and is another sign of how much his work touched us all.
Basically it is a series of short stories celebrating the world of Arthur C Clarke - the challenge being rich story had to be 2001 words long.
Now unlike sister volume (which were related to an existing setting in his works - this book had to be inspired by Mr Clarke so as you can imagine there was a massive range of subject and styles - which meant as you can imagine there was a huge variety.
Now in books like this I will admit that there are stories I love and stories I struggle with and as is always the case its hard to spot one from the other.
So I love the concept and I think it is a unique and fun project though the stories do not always hit the spot for me. What also Impressed me was the range of authors who had contributed to this book it is truly impress and is another sign of how much his work touched us all.
April 20, 2019
Fun collection of short stories 2001 words long, plus a couple commentary type pieces, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Arthur C. Clark’s birth. A good range of styles, some funny, some poignant, some a bit creepy. Of 30 authors 9 are women and 4 were named Ian, for what it’s worth.
August 31, 2019
An anthology of stories with the premise that each one must be 2001 words long. The resulting stories are mostly average with some interesting ones by Emma Newman, Yoon Ha Lee, Liz Williams, Jeff Noon, Emmi Itaranta, Chris Beckett, Claire North, Becky Chambers and Alastair Reynolds.
- "Golgotha" by Dave Hutchinson: an alien who 'swims' in methane goes to meet a special creature from the sea who gives a message we may not like to hear.
- "The Monoliths of Mars" by Paul McAuley: a recommend tour of various Monoliths on Mars created in the image of the original Monolith.
- "Murmuration" by Jane Rogers: two returning space ships in quarantine tell stories about a perfect alien world, with only one imperfection that was, depending on the ships' point of view, was eliminated or created.
- "Ouroboros" by Ian R MacLeod: a former hacker gets a visit from a monk who gives him a task: to hack the reality that underlies the universe.
- "The Escape Hatch" by Matthew De Abaitua: a gateway to another world unexpectedly opens and a video blogger is one of the first to go through and return and to encourage others to follow her.
- "Childhood's Friend" by Rachel Pollack: children enhanced by neural 'knobs' inserted into their heads begin to act much with more intelligence than should be expected.
- "Takes from the White Hart" by Bruce Sterling: a meandering story set on a ship about a familiar looking man who lacks the time to tell a fantastical tale to a reporter.
- "Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!" by Emma Newman: an old man prepares to die with the help of a paid for, and expensive, virtual angel. But in the real final moments, the unexpected happens and he sees what the real world really thinks of him.
- "Distraction" by Gwyneth Jones: two people return from a long space mission to a world that has changed so much that they experience discomforts that have long vanished from the world.
- "Dancers" by Allen Stroud: an investigation on why some people react violently in space would reveal the hidden agenda of the computer in change of the station, whose name happens to be HAL.
- "Entropy War" by Yoon Ha Lee: posed as a series of questions to the reader on warfare, the story concerns a conquering alien race who at the height of their powers retreats into an ark. The reason behind it would be because the alien race wants to win the ultimate war in the only way they can.
- "The Ontologist" by Liz Williams: a person who classifies all that is real, not real and may be real is asked to classify an unknown object. After much effort, he succeeds but at a high cost to himself.
- "Waiting in the Sky" by Tom Hunter: two tales intertwine with one story about family events around the announced death of David Bowie, the other from Curiosity's point of view on Mars.
- "The Collectors" by Adrian Tchaikovsky: an expedition to a distant solar system finds it full of artificial objects and recordings, but no life. The expedition would have to learn to decipher the signal and then wait.
- "I Saw Three Ships" by Phillip Mann: a medical section is to be set up on the International Space Station. At it's opening, two momentous events would occur: one a surprise, one unexpected.
- "Before They Left" by Colin Greenland: a tale set in Clarke's book, "Childhood's End", about a girl who wishes to go to Mars. But then a visiting Overlord tells her that she won't go for a good reason.
- "Drawn From the Eye" by Jeff Noon: a story about a collector of tears, which appear to hold secrets that the collector decides to explore one day.
- "Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold" by Emmi Itaranta: a faraway being is attracted by a human chant and becomes attached to our world, affecting it in various ways. But time passes by, and it may be time for it to move on.
- "The Fugue" by Stephanie Holman: an alien being on our world wakes up and discovers she has been here too long. But what is keeping her here and is she willing to give up the life she has lived to return to her world.
- "Memories of a Table" by Chris Beckett: in a museum that contains memories of events that happened in the past, one man comes to explore a certain memory from the recent past.
- "Child of Ours" by Claire North: an intelligent machine decides to have a child. But when her fellow machines on the network begin to argue about the characteristic of a child, the machine has to go with what it knows about human children; and act like a human itself.
- "Would-Be A.I., Tell Us a Tale! #241: Sell 'em Back in Time! by Hali Hallison" by Ian Watson: when a burger company has saturated the world with its burger products, there is only one way it can sell more burgers; sell them to people from the past.
- "Last Contact" by Becky Chambers: a researcher makes one last effort to contact an alien race she has been monitoring for many years before her mission is recalled.
- "The Final Fable" by Ian Whates: a professor speculates that aliens are already among us and is hiding among the portion of the population indulges in a particular activity.
- "Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae" by Ian McDonald: an artist paints a landscape on Mars as they await a rescue mission to get them off Mars that may or may not succeed.
- "Child" by Adam Roberts: as in "2001: A Space Odyssey", the Star Child appears above the Earth. But other than that, the tale told here tells a very different story as to what happens to the Earth after that.
- "Providence" by Alastair Reynolds: an expedition to a habitable planet goes wrong and all the expedition can do is return data to Earth for any future expedition to comes. But one man who ventures out alone makes an astonishing discovery and he has to decide what to do with the secret he has found.
- "Golgotha" by Dave Hutchinson: an alien who 'swims' in methane goes to meet a special creature from the sea who gives a message we may not like to hear.
- "The Monoliths of Mars" by Paul McAuley: a recommend tour of various Monoliths on Mars created in the image of the original Monolith.
- "Murmuration" by Jane Rogers: two returning space ships in quarantine tell stories about a perfect alien world, with only one imperfection that was, depending on the ships' point of view, was eliminated or created.
- "Ouroboros" by Ian R MacLeod: a former hacker gets a visit from a monk who gives him a task: to hack the reality that underlies the universe.
- "The Escape Hatch" by Matthew De Abaitua: a gateway to another world unexpectedly opens and a video blogger is one of the first to go through and return and to encourage others to follow her.
- "Childhood's Friend" by Rachel Pollack: children enhanced by neural 'knobs' inserted into their heads begin to act much with more intelligence than should be expected.
- "Takes from the White Hart" by Bruce Sterling: a meandering story set on a ship about a familiar looking man who lacks the time to tell a fantastical tale to a reporter.
- "Your Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!" by Emma Newman: an old man prepares to die with the help of a paid for, and expensive, virtual angel. But in the real final moments, the unexpected happens and he sees what the real world really thinks of him.
- "Distraction" by Gwyneth Jones: two people return from a long space mission to a world that has changed so much that they experience discomforts that have long vanished from the world.
- "Dancers" by Allen Stroud: an investigation on why some people react violently in space would reveal the hidden agenda of the computer in change of the station, whose name happens to be HAL.
- "Entropy War" by Yoon Ha Lee: posed as a series of questions to the reader on warfare, the story concerns a conquering alien race who at the height of their powers retreats into an ark. The reason behind it would be because the alien race wants to win the ultimate war in the only way they can.
- "The Ontologist" by Liz Williams: a person who classifies all that is real, not real and may be real is asked to classify an unknown object. After much effort, he succeeds but at a high cost to himself.
- "Waiting in the Sky" by Tom Hunter: two tales intertwine with one story about family events around the announced death of David Bowie, the other from Curiosity's point of view on Mars.
- "The Collectors" by Adrian Tchaikovsky: an expedition to a distant solar system finds it full of artificial objects and recordings, but no life. The expedition would have to learn to decipher the signal and then wait.
- "I Saw Three Ships" by Phillip Mann: a medical section is to be set up on the International Space Station. At it's opening, two momentous events would occur: one a surprise, one unexpected.
- "Before They Left" by Colin Greenland: a tale set in Clarke's book, "Childhood's End", about a girl who wishes to go to Mars. But then a visiting Overlord tells her that she won't go for a good reason.
- "Drawn From the Eye" by Jeff Noon: a story about a collector of tears, which appear to hold secrets that the collector decides to explore one day.
- "Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold" by Emmi Itaranta: a faraway being is attracted by a human chant and becomes attached to our world, affecting it in various ways. But time passes by, and it may be time for it to move on.
- "The Fugue" by Stephanie Holman: an alien being on our world wakes up and discovers she has been here too long. But what is keeping her here and is she willing to give up the life she has lived to return to her world.
- "Memories of a Table" by Chris Beckett: in a museum that contains memories of events that happened in the past, one man comes to explore a certain memory from the recent past.
- "Child of Ours" by Claire North: an intelligent machine decides to have a child. But when her fellow machines on the network begin to argue about the characteristic of a child, the machine has to go with what it knows about human children; and act like a human itself.
- "Would-Be A.I., Tell Us a Tale! #241: Sell 'em Back in Time! by Hali Hallison" by Ian Watson: when a burger company has saturated the world with its burger products, there is only one way it can sell more burgers; sell them to people from the past.
- "Last Contact" by Becky Chambers: a researcher makes one last effort to contact an alien race she has been monitoring for many years before her mission is recalled.
- "The Final Fable" by Ian Whates: a professor speculates that aliens are already among us and is hiding among the portion of the population indulges in a particular activity.
- "Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae" by Ian McDonald: an artist paints a landscape on Mars as they await a rescue mission to get them off Mars that may or may not succeed.
- "Child" by Adam Roberts: as in "2001: A Space Odyssey", the Star Child appears above the Earth. But other than that, the tale told here tells a very different story as to what happens to the Earth after that.
- "Providence" by Alastair Reynolds: an expedition to a habitable planet goes wrong and all the expedition can do is return data to Earth for any future expedition to comes. But one man who ventures out alone makes an astonishing discovery and he has to decide what to do with the secret he has found.
August 28, 2021
I blame it on the pandemic. That was what was happening in the world while I was reading this. Oh, sure the first year I spent reading it was pre-pandemic and the last half year most of the population of the US was trying desperately to live like the pandemic was over (when in reality we’re lucky if we’re half way through. The second year was that first year of the pandemic and, to be honest, I read very little of this book during the that year of the pandemic). One would think that the effect the pandemic would have on me would be that I’d read more. I thought it would, but that was not the case. What I did more of was listening to audiobooks (although technically, I’d call them audio-dramas). In any case. There were a lot of really good stories included here. But not all of them, worked for me.
July 6, 2018
I read a lot of short story collections and it isn’t often that I find one where I enjoy all the stories (the only thing I didn’t enjoy was China mieville’s non-fiction at the end. But I never do. Love his fiction but his nonfiction style just annoys me)
“Murmuration” and “the ontologist”were particularly standout stories for me
Whilst the theme of the collection is sf in 2001 words (rather than being specifically based on Clarke’s own works), most of the authors have taken some inspiration from various Clarke stories - with a few obviously targeting 2001
Another great book from newcon press
“Murmuration” and “the ontologist”were particularly standout stories for me
Whilst the theme of the collection is sf in 2001 words (rather than being specifically based on Clarke’s own works), most of the authors have taken some inspiration from various Clarke stories - with a few obviously targeting 2001
Another great book from newcon press
July 10, 2018
Recent Reads: 2001 An Odyssey In Words. Ian Whates and Tom Hunter put together an anthology in honour of the Clarke Award. The rule? Each story has to be 2001 words. The result? Concise snippets of SF in the mould of Clarke's own shorts. Recommended.
July 5, 2018
I was a Kickstarter backer of this book, and I'm not disappointed. The writers live up to their prestige, but I do have one complaint: many of the short stories did not feel self contained, but like a prelude to some larger work. The self-imposed limitation of 2001 words is a constraint that makes for some true creativity. If Rachel Pollack happens to read this, please give me more. Also, the non-fiction meditations on sf at the end are worth the cost on its own.
May 19, 2019
2001 An odyssey in words Edited by Ian Whates and Tom Hunger
The theme of this anthology is the commemoration of the birth of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.. While some of these stories directly refer to Clarke’s work, others do it in a way that I probably missed. But the important thing is that they all written to word counts of 2001 words. This makes a useful reference for people who want to get into writing short stories as it provides them with examples by experienced writers of what you can do with the format. There are also a couple of interesting non-fiction essays by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville. Definitely worth checking out for fans of science-fiction and short stories
The theme of this anthology is the commemoration of the birth of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.. While some of these stories directly refer to Clarke’s work, others do it in a way that I probably missed. But the important thing is that they all written to word counts of 2001 words. This makes a useful reference for people who want to get into writing short stories as it provides them with examples by experienced writers of what you can do with the format. There are also a couple of interesting non-fiction essays by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville. Definitely worth checking out for fans of science-fiction and short stories
August 16, 2018
"My God! It's full of stars..."
The haunting line from '2001: A Space Odyssey', along with the stunning visuals and the cryptic vision of a future which never existed serves as the inspiration for some of science fiction's most intriguing writers.
By no coincidence, each story is two thousand and one words long.
The haunting line from '2001: A Space Odyssey', along with the stunning visuals and the cryptic vision of a future which never existed serves as the inspiration for some of science fiction's most intriguing writers.
By no coincidence, each story is two thousand and one words long.
August 24, 2018
Several good stories - just look at the line-up. But if there's a stand-out, it has to be Ian McDonald's powerful "Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae". McDonald describes an ill-fated expedition to Mars through by comparing the landscapes painted by one of the astronauts to the styles of artists such as Turner, Blake, Monet and Rothko. Beautiful and haunting.
October 8, 2018
[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program]
To honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of sir Arthur Clarke, Newcon Press asked many SF authors to contribute to this anthology with a short story. The only constraint was that the story should have been exactly 2001 words long. As Oulipo studied, a constraint too weak does not help people write interesting works, even if many authors decided to stick with Clarkean themes to narrow the possibilities. Among the stories I only found a handful I really appreciate: Ouroburos by Ian R. McLeod, The Escape Hatch by Matthew De Abaitua, Dancers by Allen Stroud, The Ontologist by Liz Williams, Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold by Emmi Itäranta, Last Contact by Becky Chambers, Providence by Alastair Reynolds. In a nutshell, the book is interesting and it is a nice tribute, also thanks to the three short essays at the end (I did not check their lenghts, but Neil Gaiman definitely wrote much less than 2001 words); but is could have been a bit better.
To honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of sir Arthur Clarke, Newcon Press asked many SF authors to contribute to this anthology with a short story. The only constraint was that the story should have been exactly 2001 words long. As Oulipo studied, a constraint too weak does not help people write interesting works, even if many authors decided to stick with Clarkean themes to narrow the possibilities. Among the stories I only found a handful I really appreciate: Ouroburos by Ian R. McLeod, The Escape Hatch by Matthew De Abaitua, Dancers by Allen Stroud, The Ontologist by Liz Williams, Roads of Silver, Paths of Gold by Emmi Itäranta, Last Contact by Becky Chambers, Providence by Alastair Reynolds. In a nutshell, the book is interesting and it is a nice tribute, also thanks to the three short essays at the end (I did not check their lenghts, but Neil Gaiman definitely wrote much less than 2001 words); but is could have been a bit better.
October 16, 2018
An interesting collection of essays, each of 2001 words, as a tribute. A lot of great SF ideas explored very briefly. I'm not a big fan of short stories in general and I found most of these far too short. As a collection of SF ideas I think it works, but as entertainment I think the form is too brief.
May 20, 2019
This is a decent short story collection written to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Arthur C. Clarke. Each story had to be exactly 2001 words in length, as a nod to Clarke's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' As in any collection, I enjoyed some more than others, but there was only one that I didn't like that much, which is pretty good for a collection like this.
August 17, 2018
Loved the concept (each story is 2001 words). As with almost all short story collections, not every story worked or resonated with me, but there are some great ones in here. I think someone who has read more Clarke than me would appreciate it even more.
March 30, 2019
By turns charming, confusing, and delightful. I only disliked a few of the stories, but appreciated the variety.
August 12, 2024
Came for the Becky chambers short story, which didn’t disappoint. However, I didn’t really love any of the other stories. 2001 words just isn’t much to work with in sci fi. Laudable effort though!!
October 27, 2018
This is a Kickstarted anthology celebrating the centenary of the birth of Sir Arthur C. Clarke. There's no specific theme to the collection, but the gimmick is that each story in it is exactly 2001 words long. This is a fairly short length for a short story, so there's quite a number of stories here, from many authors, most of whom are past winners or nominees of the Clarke Award. The list of names is very impressive and includes Becky Chambers, Jeff Noon, Alistair Reynolds and many more (twenty four more, to be precise).
With a collection as large and as varied as this, quality is bound to vary. There are some cracking stories here, and some that made me scratch my head but none that I outright hated. Some reference Sir Arthur's work (such as Paul McAuley's Monoliths of Mars or Bruce Sterling's Takes from the White Hart; and then there's editor Ian Whates' The Last Fable which is goes meta in referencing his other anthology Fables From the Fountain, which was itself a take on Clarke's Tales From the White Hart).
There were a few pieces of non-fiction at the end, none of which really grabbed me. Andrew M. Butler discusses how Man has adapted through the use of tools; Neil Gaiman talks about being a past judge of the Clarke Award; and China Miéville rambled... something... about the state of SF today (I think).
So a good collection, but I can't help thinking the word limit kept stories too short to really develop into anything memorable. Still, at least the less interesting ones were over sooner too and there was another one along pretty quickly.
With a collection as large and as varied as this, quality is bound to vary. There are some cracking stories here, and some that made me scratch my head but none that I outright hated. Some reference Sir Arthur's work (such as Paul McAuley's Monoliths of Mars or Bruce Sterling's Takes from the White Hart; and then there's editor Ian Whates' The Last Fable which is goes meta in referencing his other anthology Fables From the Fountain, which was itself a take on Clarke's Tales From the White Hart).
There were a few pieces of non-fiction at the end, none of which really grabbed me. Andrew M. Butler discusses how Man has adapted through the use of tools; Neil Gaiman talks about being a past judge of the Clarke Award; and China Miéville rambled... something... about the state of SF today (I think).
So a good collection, but I can't help thinking the word limit kept stories too short to really develop into anything memorable. Still, at least the less interesting ones were over sooner too and there was another one along pretty quickly.
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