SUMMARY:At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft.Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams...and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits - just behind a Raman airlock door.Includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer

The crowning achievement of any professional writer is to get paid twice for the same material: write a piece for one publisher and then tweak it just enough that you can turn around and sell it to someone else. While it’s specious to accuse Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke of this, fans of both authors will definitely notice some striking similarities between Light of Other Days and other recent works by the two, specifically Baxter’s Manifold: Time and Clarke’s The Trigger . The Light of Other Days follows a soulless tech billionaire (sort of an older, more crotchety Bill Gates), a soulful muckraking journalist, and the billionaire’s two (separated since birth) sons. It’s 2035, and all four hold ringside seats at the birth of a new paradigm-destroying technology, a system of "WormCams," harnessing the power of wormholes to see absolutely anyone or anything, anywhere, at any distance (even light years away). As if that weren’t enough, the sons eventually figure out how to exploit a time-dilation effect, allowing them to use the holes to peer back in time. For Baxter’s part, the Light of Other Days develops another aspect of Manifold ’s notion that humanity might have to master the flow of time itself to avert a comparatively mundane disaster (yet another yawn-inducing big rock threatening to hit the earth); Clarke, just as he did with Trigger ’s anti-gun ray, speculates on how a revolutionary technology can change the world forever.

Originally published in 1983, this collection represents some of the greatest short fiction from one of the genre's most renowned authors. These collected works were written throughout Clarke's career, from 1946 to 1981—originally appearing in science fiction magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, and OMNI.Between these pages you'll find some of Clarke's most groundbreaking early stories—many of which influenced later classic novel-length work. The title story, "The Sentinel," formed the foundation for what would later become the Space Odyssey series—perhaps Clarke's most famous work. You'll also find "Guardian Angel," a rarely reproduced story that was the inspiration for Childhood's End.

Originally published as “Inside the Comet”.

“Rama Revealed” (1993) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. It is the last of three sequels to Clarke's “ Rendezvous with Rama” by these authors, and as the title suggests reveals the mysteries behind the enigmatic “ Rama” spacecraft. The book picks up the story immediately after the end of “ The Garden of Rama .” The book follows the story of Nicole Wakefield and her escape from imprisonment left at the cliffhanger of the previous book. As the human colony continues to degenerate with respect to living conditions and human rights, the members of Nicole's family escape to the region nicknamed “New York”, where they come into contact with the third alien species, known as “Octospiders” living in the Rama spacecraft. The Octospiders were a simple species until a space-faring species made contact with them and forever changed their society. Undergoing genetic enhancements, the Octospiders were eventually able to form a utopia of sorts. Eventually, the situation becomes dire enough that Rama's controlling intelligence intervenes to end the conflict caused by the Humans onboard. The Rama spacecraft rendezvous with an enormous “Tetrahedron” near the star Tau Ceti, at a place designed to research any intelligent life capable of spaceflight.

Also published as Out from the Sun . From Robert Silverberg’s “Earthmen and Strangers” anthology, 1966: Arthur C. Clarke is a true citizen of the world. Where he is at any given moment only his travel agent is likely to know: perhaps in New York conferring with his publishers, perhaps excavating sunken treasure off the coast of Ceylon, perhaps supervising the filming of a movie in London, perhaps studying the cored formations of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, perhaps watching a rocket blasting moonward from Cape Kennedy. He was born in England, but he is at home on any continent, and probably will be found sightseeing on Mars and Venus as soon as commercial service to those ports of call is inaugurated. As an acknowledged master of science fiction, Clarke’s presence in any anthology is almost mandatory. He works within the great tradition of H. G. Wells, combining literary artistry with scientific accuracy to create stories of stirring wonder and breathtaking provocativeness. Here Clarke offers a fitting epilogue for this collection of stories of alien life: a glimpse of a life-form so incredibly strange that we poor mortals can barely begin to comprehend its nature.