Saturday, July 19, 2008

Sentinel of Eternity

Since it is the basis for Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke's short story, "The Sentinel," is probably one of the top science fiction stories of all time. I believe this is its first appearance, published in 1951 in Avon's 10 Story Fantasy, #1 (and only) under the title, "Sentinel of Eternity". The magazine was edited by Don Wollheim, who went on to Ace Books and then created DAW Books.







2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great story... interesting to read 50 yr old SF... the wonder and Innocence we've lost

Alexander said...

I am still a little surprised that "The Sentinel" is often so strongly associated with "2001" (I don't care about Kubrick's, but I love Clarke's). Of course Clarke himself admitted the inspiration but it was just that: a starting point. Then the novel progressed way beyond anything in short story, beyond anything that Clarke himself could imagine in the early 1950s. Nevertheless, the short story is a fine one and it is great to see it in a magazine.