• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
M.G. Herron

M.G. Herron

Science Fiction Author in Austin, TX

  • Home
  • Books
    • The Gunn Files
    • Translocator Trilogy
    • The Republic
    • Box Sets
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About
  • Blog
  • Free Sci-Fi Novel
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Reading: The City and The Stars

M.G. Herron · Jul 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment

The City and The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke. Science fiction, 1956.

I’m still on a kick to catch up on the mid-century masters of science fiction—stuff that, by choice or by chance, I’ve never been exposed to. When I saw this one in Half Price Books with the awesome cover I had to have it.

Appropriately aged, don’t you think? 

It took me a while to read this book, and even longer to write about it. It’s good. I just needed time to let it all sink in. 

Here’s the thing. It starts slow. A billion years has passed and Clarke is painstakingly laying out for you reader how society has changed in all that time—a time your brain can hardly quantify.

It takes some getting used to. But there’s a pace shift about a quarter of the way through that will absolutely blow your mind.

Once exposed, the sheer scale of the concept that powers this book is impressive. This is a high concept novel. Relatively short in length, but on a massive scale.

What’s most astonishing is how well the story has aged. Technology has advanced considerably since Clarke wrote this and his vision of the far-future society remains perfectly plausible if we look at it from today—again, that scale.

It almost feels like the story is more relevant today than it was when he wrote it. Some of the language is very mid-century, but if you can get past that, I think you might like this science fiction epic, The City and The Stars.

SF Genre blog, books, classic science fiction, novels

The Auriga Project

This one’s on me: a science fiction novel and short story, guaranteed to keep you up at night! High-tech disaster meets ancient Mayans when archaeologist Eliana Fisk is transported to a strange new world.

Submitting your email subscribes you to my newsletter. Unsubscribe any time!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

M.G. Herron

Copyright © 2021 · Powered by ModFarm Design · Log in

  • Privacy Policy
  • Account