In the title story of this collection, Earth has entered its final ice age—precipitated by the cooling of the sun. In this forbidding climate, a small tribe of nomadic human survivors travels toward the equator ahead of glaciers moving down from the North Pole, carrying with them a handful of relics from the 21st century—and racing against the ice to preserve them from annihilation. This collection is a showcase of groundbreaking stories that wrestle with the moral, psychological, and ethical implications of scientific advancement—written by one of the foremost science fiction authors of our time. Table of contents: Introduction Foreword 1. Travel by Wire! 2. How We Went to Mars 3. Retreat from Earth 4. Reverie 5. The Awakening 6. Whacky 7. Loophole 8. Rescue Party 9. Technical Error 10. Castaway 11. The Fires Within 12. Inheritance 13. Nightfall 14. History Lesson 15. Transience 16. The Wall of Darkness 17. The Lion of Comarre 18. The Forgotten Enemy 19. Hide-and-Seek 20. Breaking Strain 21. Nemesis 22. Guardian Angel 23. Time's Arrow 24. A Walk in the Dark 25. Silence Please 26. Trouble With the Natives 27. The Road to the Sea
Author
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was one of the most important and influential figures in 20th century science fiction. He spent the first half of his life in England, where he served in World War Two as a radar operator, before emigrating to Ceylon in 1956. He is best known for the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he co-created with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick. Clarke was a graduate of King's College, London where he obtained First Class Honours in Physics and Mathematics. He is past Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, a member of the Academy of Astronautics, the Royal Astronomical Society, and many other scientific organizations. Author of over fifty books, his numerous awards include the 1961 Kalinga Prize, the AAAS-Westinghouse science writing prize, the Bradford Washburn Award, and the John W. Campbell Award for his novel Rendezvous With Rama. Clarke also won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
