Title: The Other Side of the Sky

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Category: Fiction

Page Count: 246

Rating: 4/5

I’ve read a few Arthur C. Clarke books by this point, certainly enough for him to qualify as one of my new favourite authors. In fact, it was this that finally prompted me to add all of his books to my wish list, even though that takes ages and the whole process is kind of a ball-ache.

I think it helped that these are short stories, and I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for short stories. I think we have Isaac Asimov to blame for that, but I’m not complaining. Clarke doesn’t give us the same cool stuff that we get with Asimov in terms of the cool little introductions, but he does have some fascinating ideas on offer here. It’s one of those where it’s just a pleasure from start to finish, and that happens surprisingly rarely with short story collections.

My favourite story in this collection was probably the title story, The Other Side of the Sky, and it’s for a surprising reason. It’s told in first-person, which I’m not normally a fan of, but it worked well because it covered several isolated incidents that occurred to the same person. It left it feeling as though a friend had just been casually sharing his experiences with me. If you have space friends, I guess.

Learn more about The Other Side of the Sky.