Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, The City and the Stars, and the Hugo- and Nebula-winning Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke is one of the greatest science fiction writers of the century and surely the most celebrated science fictionauthor alive. He is—with H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein—one of the writers who define science fiction in our time.Now, Clarke has cooperated in th epreparation of a massive definitive edition of his collected shorter works. From early stories like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre," through classics like "The Star," "Earthlight," "The Nine Billion Names of God," and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later works like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God," this immense volume encapsulates one of the great SF careers of all time.