And two, it sets up the theme that aliens will inevitably learn man has finally escaped the terrestrial boundaries of Earth and reached for the stars. One, it presents Clarke’s prediction of man’s celestial knowledge and technological advancements over nearly half a century in the future from when it was penned. Why? This introduction is less cryptic than the film and it serves two intertwined purposes to the story. Perhaps this image does not compare to the awe inspired vision expressed in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but is important none the less. We could live comfortably for a month in our pressurized tractors, and if we ran into trouble we could always radio for help and sit tight until one of the spaceships came to our rescue.” There is nothing hazardous or even particularly exciting about lunar exploration.

“Half a dozen times a day we would leave our vehicle and go outside in the space suits to hunt for interesting minerals, or to place markers for the guidance of future travellers. Readers are put at ease by the commonality of man’s existence on the moon and the calm demeanor of the crew. The most notable perspective at this point is the casual observation by Wilson. The story begins with the geologist/selenologist narrator Wilson describing the team’s long term lunar research. With seventeen other works of fiction by the author in this book, I hope to return to it in the future and look at other pieces in the collection. This review is based on The Sentinel as it appears in the 1978 Puffin edition anthology of The Worlds of Arthur C. Those darlings just might blossom into literary classics. So if you’re an aspiring writer, don’t give up on those ideas if they first go unnoticed. Jay Jones pointed out, the progenesis of what became 2001 Space Odyssey. Eventually, this story emerged as the inspiration, muse, or as J. It turns out that this was the only issue of the magazine ever produced by Avon Publication (who had previous failures in the pulp magazine market as well). But a few years later in the spring of 1951, the piece finally found publication in Volume 1, #1 of the pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy. “Sentinel of Eternity” in the 1951 spring issue of “10 Story Fantasy”įor all of those wannabe writers out there, it’s reassuring to know that the short story Sentinel of Eternity by Clarke wasn’t even good enough to win a 1948 BBC competition. Jay Jones wrote a great piece about the author here), so we’ll focus instead on the story that spawned the famous Odyssey series. We already know a lot about writer Arthur C. When it comes to 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s usually a love it or hate it relationship based on the emotional loyalty of fandom.

Arthur c clarke's the sentinel