Product Description
For a profit -- and adventure -- Barlennan would sail thousands of miles across uncharted waters, into regions where gravity itself played strange tricks. He would dare the perils of strange tribes and stranger creatures -- even dicker with those strange aliens from beyond the skies, though the concept of another world was unknown to the inhabitants of the disk-shaped planet of Mesklin.
But in spite of the incredible technology of the strangers and without regard for their enormous size, Barlennan had the notion of turning the deal to an unsuspected advantage for himself . . . all in all a considerable enterprise for a being very much resembling a fifteen-inch caterpillar!
This book also contains Hal Clement's classic article "Whiligig World."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

it's ok
I decided, as I acquired my new kindle, to read all of the Nebula and Hugo award nominees going back to their beginnings.So, this book came to my attention.

I was just never engaged in the story.My only reason for turning the pages was to complete a checkmark on my list.I think that is what I most felt that turned me off.Now, the reasons I felt that way were:i felt no sympathy for any of the characters, wasn't engaged with them at all really, and the story was very.... antiseptic.By this I mean that I nveer felt myself caring about the trials tribulations, or successes of the parties involved.

I didn't mind reading it.It was creative.But I just can't find much to recommend it.

A conventional exploration and adventure story
Mesklin is a massive methane- and hydrogen-based planet. It spins once every 18 minutes resulting centrifugal lightening force of 3G; resulting total of hundreds of time of Earth gravity. An unmanned ship, a probe, is sent to the surface to take measurements and study these harsh conditions. Unfortunately, the ship malfunctions and cannot take off. A group of creatures on the planet, fifteen-inch long centipede-like creatures, agree to travel to the unknown -- to the edge of their cosmology -- to rescue the instruments.

The book is about the voyage of the alien Bree, aka Barlennan, and his groups odyssey across the surface. Bree, a sailor and an avid merchant but horrified of being off the ground, have his own objectives: to steal the science secrets from their human partners. On the journey to the probe, from near the equator to a point close to the southern pole, Bree and his crew have to fight new creatures, hostile civilizations and hunt for food. The sequels are Star Light (1970) and short story Lecture Demonstration (1973).

Two (2) stars. Written in 1954 the hard facts must have been extraordinary to define "hard SF". The story is told from the viewpoint of Mesklinite characters; their thirst for knowledge. Their technology level hasn't reached the wheel yet, but they are able to comprehend Human technology, they communicate with humans using radios, use their forecasts and take advantage of other human miracles. The physics used to solve the situations is pretty basic. On the other hand the world construction has required some serious thought. The physics oriented reader's curiosity, about what the circumstances would be like in high gravity planet, is met. This old school SF book is basically a conventional exploration and adventure story with a twist at the end where these intelligent alien merchants show their teeth how to do business; even with more intelligent species like humans.

Not Free SF Reader
This book is great. Great planet, great, interesting aliens, who are,
well, alien. A fine piece of work, while being explanatory you don't
necessarily notice it a lot. Then the twist at the end, just beautiful.
It is quite short, but you don't really know it. There is some questing
involved in the plot, and it doesn't seem rushed.

Highly recommended.

Hard SF classic
I read a 1950s hard cover of this Hal Clement novel, a sort of hard SF archetype well worth reading.

"Mission of Gravity" is suffused with what some might call a naive optimism about science and technology-- its like a love letter to physics and mechanical engineering.Lacking any literary pretensions, it is a straightforward account of how explorers deal with a series of technical challenges on a planet with a very unusual environment.Clement's fascination with science is infectious, and the book charmingly succeeds in accomplishing exactly what it set out to do; unlike some later hard SF novels which get loaded down with incompetent character development or boring philosophical digressions, Clement keeps his book lean and focused, and never tries to do something he isn't good at.A classic.

The most unique race of beings to be found in "hard" SciFi
In spite of its publication date of 1954, 'Mission Of Gravity' contains one of the most unique races of aliens ever brought to the written world to date.The planet of Mesklin is explored in 'Mission Of Gravity'.Clement's studies and training have paid off in this "hard" SciFi novel of physical possibilities.

A valuable rocketship has crashed in the polar regions of Mesklin, an area of such high gravity that a human could never travel there.At the "Rim", or the equator of the planet, however, the gravity is only three times Earth's gravity.It's here that human Charles Lackland meets Barlennan, Captain of the merchant ship Bree, and establishes communication with the strange being.The Bree is an odd ship, composed of many rafts lashed together, and as tough as her captain.

Here at the Rim, Barlennan and his crew are in dangerous territory, so light that a small wind could lift them away.The Mesklinites are genetically designed to live in the outrageously heavy gravity of the poles, looking like a cross between a scorpion and a caterpillar, accustomed to severe gravity, and only fifteen inches in length and two inches in diameter.

Lackland and Barlennan come to an agreement.In exchange for weather reports and maps, the wily merchant Captain agrees to salvage the un-manned ship at the southern pole.Through a hydrogen atmosphere, across seas of liquid methane, and through ammonia snows, the captain boldly sets out on Lackland's mission - but he has an agenda of his own, something he wants from Lackland in return for his favor.

Barlennan and Dondragmer (first mate of the Bree) are two of the most interesting alien life forms I've ever read about.The interaction between what could be considered on an insect on Earth and the humans at the moon station is astoundingly well written.Barlennan is a fascinating personality, bold and clever and completely likable.

'Mission Of Gravity' is "hard" enough for the science expert yet thrilling enough for the "soft" or "vague" SciFi aficionado, 'Mission Of Gravity' is a well-told story that will enchant every fan of every sub-genre of SciFi.Accompanying this timeless novel is an Afterward comprised of an article Hal Clement wrote for 'Astounding Science Fiction' magazine in June of 1953, outlining the work he put into this pleasurable tale.Enjoy!
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Customer Reviews (3)

Not a bad novel if you can find it
Picked this novel up at a used bookstore for $1.Not one of Clement's best, but still entertaining and interesting in terms of its depiction of the two central characters (one human, one alien) and how they interact while stranded on an unusual planet.Typical of Clement, there are detailed descriptions of the planetary system, the two suns, how they influence the "cycle" of hot/cold weather, and the evolution of the unusual life forms found therein.Rather atypical for science fiction, there is no real violence or sex or technological wizardry to speak of.Hence, a somewhat old-fashioned, 1950s-style science fiction tale reminiscent of something that Asimov (a great admirer of Clement) or Bradbury might have written.

Lean Mean Sci-Fi
This is an old style science fiction novel in the old sense.A stranded earthman, a native of the planet trying to make it back to safety before the planet goest through a massive change in temperature which will, as far as we know, kill every living thing on the planet.The native and the Earthman develop a friendship against the background of struggling against time.The interesting subplot about the planets odd cycle and the evolutionary diversions it had caused was interesting.When at first one of the planetary scientists heats up a sample terrarium full of native plants, animals and dirt, only to watch them wither and die while at the same time tiny new creatures obviously built for the heat emerge from under the soil was an interesting way to start this section of the novel.
If you are interested in a nice read without a lot of the unecessary bells an whistles many authors are fond of putting in you will enjoy this one.

Your typical 1950's pulp sci fi novel.
When I spoke to Hal, we discussed this book before he autographed it for me.It was an opportunity to meet an author who had stayed a normal guy, and not been exalted to the Grand Master status that many of his contemparies had achieved.

Cycle of Fire is a simple novel of cooperation between two stranded aliens.It is a buddy novel that has been written before and since in a number of genres.

If you liked Enemy Mine, but not the war overtones, than this is the novel you will probably like better. ... Read more

Product Description
Hal Clement, the dean of hard science fiction, has written a new planetary adventure in the tradition of his classic Mission of Gravity. It is the kind of story that made his reputation as a meticulous designer of otherworldly settings that are utterly convincing because they are constructed from the ground up using established principles of orbital mechanics, geology, chemistry, biology, and other sciences.

Kainui is one of a pair of double planets circling a pair of binary stars. Mike Hoani has come there to study the language of the colonists, to analyze its evolution in the years since settlement. But Kainui is an ocean planet. Although settled by Polynesians, it is anything but a tropical paradise. The ocean is 1,700 miles deep, with no solid ground anywhere. The population is scattered in cities on floating artificial islands with no fixed locations. The atmosphere isn't breathable, and lightning, waterspouts, and tsunamis are constant. Out on the great planetary ocean, self-sufficiency is crucial, andfar from any floating city, on a small working-family ship, anything can happen. There are, for instance, pirates. Mike's academic research turns into an exotic nautical adventure unlike anything he could have imagined.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Hal Clement's final bow
I believe this was science fiction writer Hal Clement's final book, and it was a good one. True to his unique approach to sci-fi, Clement has given us one final world where the rules of physics and chemistry which we take so for granted on earth are subtly different due to differences of gravity, heat, and other fascinating variables. He always had fun working out how human beings -- and others --always rational and well-intentioned creatures, would solve the physical problems such worlds set them. In "Noise," humans deal with a water world to interesting and instructive effect. As usual with Clement, expect no sex, violence or destruction, but anticipate an interesting journey all the same.

More science than suspense
Settled generations before by Polynesian islanders tired of the oil-processing, pseudo-life stations taking over the Pacific, the inhospitable planet Kainui has all the ocean anyone could want, being entirely covered in super salty, acidic water. It's colonists have grown artificial, enclosed cities which float, drifting with winds and currents.

And Kainui has plenty of wind and current too. Along with unbreathable air, dangerous thunder levels, underwater earthquakes, tsunamis, waterspouts, escaped and mutated pseudo-life, and pirates. Earth anthropologist Mike Hoani, there to study how the colonists' language has evolved, gets his sea legs in a hurry.

Hoani joins a metal harvesting (from floating islands of pseudo-life) boat. Battered routinely by storms and quake-generated waves, the boat is damaged and nearly sunk in an accident. Crippled and storm-driven, the boat drifts southward toward the frozen pole, and bumps up against a strange floating island, which yields an unidentifiable metal. Prize or poison?

Clement, 1998 Grand Master, delivers lots of science. His alien watery world in its binary star system is fully realized, right down to the physics and chemical reactions. While the story line takes a while to get going, fans of sea adventure and hard sf won't mind. There's never a dull moment on Kainui and the planet - and its culture - is thoroughly detailed. This one is for those who like their alien worlds imaginatively, meticulously and scientifically constructed.

exciting otherworld anthropologic study tale
The twin planets Kainui and Kaihapa are covered by water and orbit a binary star system.Polynesians settled on Kainui, a planet with deep oceans and a poisoned atmosphere.The horrendous climatic conditions include a horrific noise way over acceptable decibel levels requiring special equipments to survive the racket and the pollution.The inhabitants of this watery orb live on floating cities developed by biotechnology.

Maori Earthling Mike Hoani arrives on Kainui to study the changes in language since colonization.Trader Captain Wanaka accompanied by her husband and a ten-year-old apprentice takes the off-worlder on her boat.Their boat becomes damaged and soon they drift towards the South Pole.There on the edge of the frozen realm they encounter inhabitants of an ice city.Neither race knew of the existence of the other, but confrontation is the reaction.

Upfront the story line seems a bit weak as the novel feels more like an exciting anthropologic study tale than an action adventure science fiction thriller.The Kainui environs are superbly drawn so that the audience has a feel for the floating culture and to a lesser degree the civilization of the ice men.Fans who appreciate a strange different realm will enjoy this water world tale.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting prediction of a nitrogen-rich earth
I believe this book was published in 1980 but the title and picture cover harks back to earlier days of science-fiction.Hal Clement's planetary vision (in this case, Earth) is every bit as realised as his other planetary creations.In this case, Clement uses his science-teacher background to present an Earth of the far future that has lost most of its oxygen, forcing humans to live a nomadic existence that is harsh and short-lived.The lack of oxygen of course has reduced the human population drastically - it is only a matter of time until the human race ceases to be.Clement's portrait of a world whose atmosphere has changed seems very plausible (no nukes, no wars, no asteroids - just natural and man-made changes to the atmosphere).Clement's argument is that all planets that have an O2 rich atmosphere eventually lose it (this is explained in greater detail in the book).The alien lifeforms are well described, but (as you can see on the cover) their appendages would not make them very good at building high-tech gadgetry, though somehow they manage to get from the comet they were on to the Earth's surface.Still, Clement gives the aliens a pretty credible biology.There is a reasonable level of suspense (Clement is not really known for his suspense, e.g. Noise, Half-Life), based around the conflict between the 'city' dwellers and the outcast nomad family, as well as the usual xenophobia towards the alien creatures, which causes some anxious moments.I won't give away much more, but for those who are familiar with Clement and are not put off by a bit of hard science (in this case, chemistry) then I thoroughly recommend this book, which for me was a hidden gem of science-fiction.Another interesting aspect (later repeated in the 'finger language' of his novel, Noise) is Clement's description of a sign language that has naturally evolved among the nomads (who live almost exclusively outside in the harsh Nitrogen atmosphere) as a consequence of having to wear oxygen masks all the time.It is this sign language that also enables the nomads to communicate and eventually bond with the aliens. ... Read more

Product Description
Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and, of the living Grand Masters, is the one most associated with the subgenre of Hard SF. From his classic stories in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life, he has made a lasting impression on SF readers. And on writers too: Clement is the model for many writers of how to write Hard SF, and this book contains the principal products of his method most often held up as exemplars. Here are the classic Mission of Gravity, its sequel, Starlight, and Whirligig World, the famous essay Clement published in Astounding SF in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his memorable planet, Mesklin, whose odd shape causes gravity to vary widely from place to place. It is on Mesklin that all the stories herein are set. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wonderful interplay between species
Clement's classic hard SF novellas here about alien contact, Mission of Gravity and Star Light, with a couple of connected short stories thrown in, make for wonderful reading, and some free education in elementary physics and chemistry. MG hardly suffers from being so old that the humans employ slide rules and photographic film, and the author wisely continues it in the more recent SL. It's also almost unnoticeable that there is, as other reviewers of his other books have pointed out, no sex and no violence---not even a sharp argument between the humans and the aliens.

Instead, the stories move along on resolving the inevitable hazards as the hydrogen-breathing Mesklinites (variously described as grotesque worms, caterpillars or centipedes about three feet long) explore their own high-gravity planet and, later, a similar one three parsecs away, as contract employees (and, simultaneously, students and respected friends) of the humans.

What makes it work is the interplay between the species and the way Clements' aliens mimic human emotions and behavior, including occasional paranoia and deception, despite their significant physiological differences. I was sad to finish. It's a pity the author is no longer alive to continue this rich story of human scientists, linguists and administrators hesitantly helping the Mesklinites gradually move from being sailors on methane seas in ammonia storms to pilots of interstellar spacecraft.

From back when science fiction meant both those words
Hal Clement was a guy who understood that you could tell an engaging story, where you don't have to ignore the actual science in order to make it interesting. In fact, by paying attention to the science, he made the stories come to life. He paid attention to every detail of the worlds he created, and it made them seem all the more real. The world of Mesklin, though, was surely his crowning glory. It is incredibly massive, but it also has a high spin, so the force of gravity at the poles is far higher than at the equator. As a result, the mesklinites all know their world to be shaped like a bowl. It's details like this that make a book come alive.

Heavy Planet
I would highly recommend this book. The writer weaves a compelling tale about life on another planet and the beings themself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent sequel to Needle
This book is a straightforward sequel to Hal Clement's Needle.I enjoyed Needle, and found the science interesting, but this book goes it one better by using a more character-driven story.*Through the Eye of a Needle* is a somewhat more mature and up-to-date book; unlike *Needle*, it uses female characters.Personally I found the science just as good and the story even better than in the first book.I also enjoyed following Hunter and Bob through more of their intriguing adventures.If you liked *Needle*, this is a must-read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Exposition overload but a worthy effort
This novel suffers a similar fate to Hal Clement's 'Half-Life', i.e. it is dialogue driven with tonnes of exposition - for instance, if a character sits down, it says something like, 'There - I'm sitting'.It is this form of writing that makes much of Still River and Half-Life quite difficult to read at times, and consequently it is also easy to lose track of what's going on.Still, if you bear with it, this story has a degree of excitement, which comes through at times like a radio play - i.e. nothing to see but plenty of verbal description from the characters, letting your imagination run wild.Most of the novel takes place in the vast cave system of the planet Enigma (I won't detail the story, as others have already done so) and basically the characters and their little mapping machines, etc, travel through these vast caverns, tunnels, etc, following a river (downstream), effectively looking for its origin and (by association) the origin of life on the planet and possible other answers to many of the riddles that haunt Enigma.Certainly a degree in chemistry would help, but you get the basic gist of what's going on.Ultimately, Clement's story leads to nothing particularly revelatory, and like 'Noise' another one of his later novels, is more a voyage of discovery and observation - a very scientific observation.I recommend this book, but only to those already versed in Clement's expository style of writing.Above all, don't expect Aliens 3 or Starship Troopers - this is a book for hard-sci fi fans only, especially those who can find enjoyment in lengthy descriptions of a planet's habitat and get lost in the minutae of a truly alien world.

Hal gets the chemistry right for a scientific puzzle
This is a slightly odd book.

Hal Clement has been renowned for writing SF with real science, and his early novel "Mission of Gravity" is a classic of physics and chemistry. If you can appreciate this ultra-scientific approach, with little emotional content, you might really enjoy "Still River".

The plot is fairly straightforward: five students from an advanced interstellar culture are left alone on the small planet Enigma 88 as a practical assignment towards getting their advanced degrees.

Enigma 88 is a weird place. It orbits an O-type supergiant, and stars like that aren't supposed to have planets at all. It also has an atmosphere, despite being small. Although the students are pretty capable, it doesn't take long for some of them to be in physical danger.

I said that there was little emotional content. That's because most of the species of this interstellar culture are extremely reserved by our standards and have strong codes of privacy. There is one human on the expedition, Molly, and we do learn a little more about her feelings. Perhaps deliberately, Clement doesn't give many details about this culture - it adds to the slightly odd, detached, understated tone of the book.

The author succeeds in what he surely set out to do - create a scientific SF adventure puzzle. His aliens have a definite reality about them, perhaps because they do seem to think differently to us.

If you've read anything by Hal Clement, please try this - its my favourite of his novels.

Think You Know Your Science?
Hal Clement practically defined the sub-genre of super-hard science fiction with his Mission of Gravity in the '50s. This book continues in that tradition. Still River is based on real scientific facts that you can go out and verify in your local high school science lab. It takes Jules Verne's old story of Journey to the Center of the Earth and creates a world where you really can travel to the center of the planet. For this purpose Clement assembles a group of very varied alien beings and one human, students sent on an (ostensible) assignment to the planet Enigma 88 to determine how such a small planet has kept an atmosphere. The story revolves around their various misadventures as the planet keeps upsetting all their assumptions and oversights, and thereby getting them into deeper and deeper trouble. A very good science puzzle story (and it really helps if you have a pretty good knowledge of inorganic chemistry under some fairly extreme conditions). The characters are not very well realized (though better than in some of Clement's works); this is a typical failing of his. But at least the portrayed motivations and modes of thought are logical and consistent for each type of being. Not up to the standards of Mission of Gravity or Needle, but entertaining. Recommended for those who enjoy seeing entire fantastic worlds built upon sound science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Surprisingly good
am writing this review because there is no other review of Ocean on Top (as of this date) on Amazon, and to the best of my knowledge it is nigh on impossible to find a review or even a brief synopsis of this story online. To sum up, I will re-type the description as given on the back of the novel, which will give you a quick idea of whether or not this is the kind of book you might be interested in: "Under the Pacific the fate of the 21st Century world was in the balance. the world's energy supply was severely limited, and with a growing overpopulation the problem looked grim. In this grave new world the Power Board had become the virtual government of the planet. Power was rationed, it was guarded, its sources secret. So when three of the Power Board's top agents disappeared at sea and there was evidence that something sinister was happening to the energy quota in that area, it was time to hit all the 'alert' butons there were. Fast - and - hard...". So reads the back cover, and it is, generally, a pretty exciting read. The entire story takes place under water. It takes place exclusively from the protagonist's point of view (who remains unnamed throughout) - a Power Board agent investigating an illegal power source a couple of miles under the sea. Clement wrote this book a little over thirty years ago, but its message is even more relevant today and highlights the dangers of over-population and dwindling energy and food supplies. I won't go into details about what the protoganist finds at the bottom of the ocean or the 'people' he meets there, but Clement explores some very interesting themes of how mankind might create a new life for itself living under water -how it might grow food there, and how, under the vast, bone-crushing pressures of the deep, deep sea, humans might be biologically adapted to cope. Of particular interest also, is Clement's description of the language used (a kind of finger language akin to the one used in his other sea-faring adventure, Noise)between the indigenous inhabitants at the ocean floor, who must live perpetually in a fluid environment, and therefore cannot use speech. I hope I have whetted your appetite for what is, I believe, one of Clement's best novels (I have read about 7). This is a hidden gem, another 'lost' sci-fi book from the past that frankly has a lot to say about the possible world we are heading into. I would finally caution readers who are not familiar with Clement, particularly his writing style, which, let us say, is not exactly Clive Cussler. Clement is more of a thinker. If you like to do a bit of thinking then I recommend Ocean on Top as something worth your while. It is only 159 pages long too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Needle
I read this book when it first came out in 1949 or 1950.I was a young teenager at the time.This was one of the first kind of "grown up" books I remember reading.It is credited with waking up my interest in reading and led to the complete Tarzan series and finally to "Below the Salt" by Thomas B. Costain before I finished high school.I was by no means a "bookworm" during those years, so the fact that they were sufficient to really start me reading on my own is further testament.

I told my two grade school granddaughters about the Needle and how it was instrumental in tweeking my interest in reading.This was an effort to explain that reading is fun.They viewed it as a chore.Shortly after I searched out copies of Needle and Eye of the Needle on the internet and ordered them.I am enjoying rereading the story of my youth along with my granddaughters.I read a chapter or two to them each day.The book is just as much fun now as it was over a half century ago.

Doug C.

One of my favorite Sci-fi novels
I really, really enjoyed this book, and I am very sad that it is out of print. It is the kind of book that I would like to recommend to others, but can't because of its relatively unavailability.

This book was indeed written in 1949, as others have noted, but for me this was a plus and not a minus in reading the book. I love the fact that we now have Sci-fi classics written at different times, and enjoy seeing the way that those writing in the late forties handled situations different than today. Moreover, the book was SET in 1949, and not in the future. This was merely one of the things that made the book interesting to me.

There are two major reasons that I enjoyed this book. One is the utterly unique premise. An alien detective on the trail of a malevolent murderer of the same species as himself crashes lands on Earth near an isolated island. These creatures require a host species, not possessing themselves a body to speak of. Our "hero" manages to find a host, the body of a young boy living on the island. From there the book deals with a variety of problems, such as how the alien lets the boy know he is residing inside him, how to figure out where the criminal alien might be, and once located, how to deal with him. It truly is one of the most unique plots in Sci-fi history.

The other reason I love the book is its completely unique setting. One does not normally set Sci-fi tales on an island in 1949. This lends an air to the novel that is quite unlike any other novel I have encountered.

I hope this book comes back into print. Until then, it does pop up on the used book market. I have twice found copies in used bookstores, and hopefully a copy will appear here for sale. However, one obtains a copy, I do heartily recommend this to anyone interested in the history of Sci-fi.

Two Aliens Hiding Among the Human Race
Two aliens crash land on Earth.One is a dangerous criminal, the other (called The Hunter) is chasing him in order to bring him to justice.Once on Earth, the criminal can inhabit any living body and hide there, becoming a "needle in a haystack."But The Hunter can use the same methods also...He inhabits the body of a young boy who aids The Hunter in his search for the criminal.

`Needle' was written in 1949, probably for an adult audience, but it reads today as almost a Young Adult novel.Maybe that's because most of the book is told from the boy Bob's point of view.The language and atmosphere Clement uses certainly seem very dated by today's standards.The book's best scenes involve the relationship that develops between Bob and The Hunter.When it gets away from that, this `Needle' becomes rather dull.Fortunately that doesn't happen too often.Although today's readers are very familiar with stories of aliens inhabiting human bodies, `Needle' was probably a first for its time.That familiarity diminishes the impact of the book in 2002, but it's still a pretty good read.

207 pages

Needle review
Needle is quite good, possibly the first successful SF detective story.John W. Campbell said it couldn't be done, and that irritated Hal Clement enough that he wrote Needle to prove Campbell wrong.Although the premiseis a bit goofy, the story is very satisfying.I recommend it to all.

The Ultimate Search for the Bad Guy
Hal Clement's "Needle" has been on my list of most-liked (and frequently re-read) books for a long time. It's science fiction, set in an (almost) realistic environment on a small tropic island. Two individuals from a species of multicellular virus have landed on earth - a "good" one hunting a "bad" one which is killing its hosts rather than living in peaceful symbiosis as it should. Predictably, the hosts they pick on Earth are humans - but just who? Like "a needle in a haystack that has choosen to climb inside a straw" the bad guy (eh - virus) is difficult to find, even after the "hunter" has gained the cooperation of his teenage host.In effect, it's a very well written detective story exploring all the angles opened by the sci-fi connection.
The story raises facinating possibilities. Wouldn't you be tempted to play host to a virus that lives off the germs in your bloodstream and scares away mosquitoes with its tiny tentacles?
Unfortunately, my father's not parting with his old paperback copy and I haven't been able to find it anywhere else. ... Read more

Product Description
An expedition team of scientists is exploring the planet Mercury. The constant rumblings of earthquakes and wind have shaken their ship, the Albireo.A small explorative party departs on tractors.It’s then when the volcanic reaction starts.And it looks like the end of the team unless man’s intelligence can beat the malevolent nature of a fiery planet! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains seventeen of Hal Clement's stories. They range from near-future earth to the distant Magellanic Cloud. Their protagonists are tachyonic aliens and teen-aged humans, retired explorers and beings so vast and slow that they don't even notice mankind, criminals, pirates and teachers. Hal Clement's stories, like his novels, show that the natural world contains wonders and possibilities which hardly require any additional invention-yet he supplies it, creating stories which turn on scientific puzzles or which lead us to look at old notions in a new light. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Clement's Short Fiction
"The Essential Hal Clement, Volume 2: Music of Many Spheres" is the second in a three volume set which introduces a new generation of readers to Hal Clement's unique style.Hal Clement is the pseudonym of Harry C. Stubbs a scientist who first used this pseudonym because he didn't want his professor to think he was wasting his time; later he found out that the same professor was also writing science fiction stories, although with less success.Clement's stories are hard science fiction, using the science of the day to create futuristic stories involving mystery or problem solving.

This volume was published in 2000, and features a nice selection of his short fiction.This collection includes his first story, "Proof", which was first published in "Astounding Science Fiction" in June of 1942.It also includes his four Laird Cunningham stories, and 12 other stories spanning his career.There doesn't seem to be any organization to this particular collection.The stories are not put in chronological order, or even alphabetically.While the Laird Cunningham stories are grouped together at the end of the collection, even those are not put into any kind of logical order.

Despite the lack of organization, this is still an enjoyable collection of stories.Some of these stories have become out-of-date as a result of scientific learning, but thanks to Clement's storytelling ability, the reader is still entertained.In 1996, "Uncommon Sense" was awarded the Retro Hugo for best Short Story written in 1945, which is a testament to Clement's ability to craft a story that stands the test of time.

Essential yarns from a master storyteller...
The title of this series is pretty clear: each book in this series contains the most important stories from a particular segment or portion of Hal Clement's long career. This volume focuses on short stories, although many of them are fairly long. Clement is known primarily for his hard SF stories with plausible science as the background for many stories.

An example in this volume would be "Raindrop", which has an ecosystem in a huge orbiting blob of water. Clement's writing is prototypical of the era preceeding the New Age SF of the 60's, if a cut (way) above what most authors can achieve. Characters inner emotional development is not the point here, but this isn't as important as it sounds. Clement always grabs you with really amazing setups: the classic "what-if" story.

If I had to pick two authors that he most reminds me of, it would be "James Tiptree Jr." and Larry Niven. The former is his contemporary and the latter is more of his heir. If you like their works, then Clement is probably for you.

This book is very solid, filled with readable, engaging, and sometimes truly classic stories. Many of his concepts are truly ground-breaking. No doubt a future volume will contain his famous "Needle" (John Campbell famously said an SF detective story could not be written... and Clement not only wrote one, he created a detective--and alien--so memorable it is still being ripped off, er, paid homage to).

But this volume... this volume is marvelous and belongs on any serious SF fan's shelf.

A "must" for all Hal Clement fans!
The Essential Hal Clement 2 offers seventeen of Clement's shortscience fiction, from stories about the outer edges of Earth'satmosphere to deep space exploration, and demonstrate the range of a writer perhaps best known for his alien invasion story 'Needle'. This demonstrates an even wider range to his talents and makes for an excellent collection especially recommended for prior fans of Clement's novels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

one of my childhood favorites...like a Heinlein juvenile
The earlier review captured the plot well.This is an interesting first contact story.There is a reasonable reason for the ETs having long but limited contact with Earth:trade of dangerous narcotic (tobacco) for platinum, that is in the interest both of alien drugrunners and an Earth family to keep quiet for years.

Clement shows us the story from both points of view, alien and human.We see each struggling to understand the other and making interesting jumps of deduction.The earlier review noted that Clement's aliens were human in motivation...I actually find this a strength.There was plenty in the shape and the temperature and even some of the social norms that made the aliens strange to me...but seeing in the end, their courage and brains, made them motivating and sympathetic.

The simple qualitative chemistry that Ken (the alien) does to understand Earth's atmosphere was fun (in my geeky sense).And its understandable when we know that Clement was a high school chemistry teacher!Both his love of the subjective and his kindly, watcher type view of young people learning and growing on their own, came through.

Welcome to Iceworld
Hal Clement, an Oxford educated astronomer who contributed immensely to the hard-science fiction movement, is best known for his books Mission of Gravity and Needle, however Iceworld (sadly neglected) is also a very good effort.Iceworld is about a tentacled alien named Sallman Ken, a science school teacher, who is employed by a narcotics agent to go investigate a powerful drug (you find out what the drug is in the first few pages but it is a wonderfully funny surprise).He is hired by the drug runners who need his scientific expertise and they travel to a planet that is immensely cold, so cold for the sulfur breathing aliens that most of their technology breaks when sent to the surface.This is the very first twist (sadly, the back cover spoils it for the reader).The aliens set up a facility on Mercury (still not hot enough for them) and send probes to Earth which pick up the drug. The aliens wish to grow the drug themselves to bypass dealing with the natives (the secondary characters in the novel) and it is up to Sallman Ken to laboriously figure out what type of atmosphere, soil content, all while snooping around for information for his boss.

The hard-science, for which Clement is so famous, involves the ways that Sallman Ken uses to learn about the Planet Earth.This is sometimes a little laborious but it instills in the reader great realism.Hal Clement is also very good at description and his "pastoral scenes" are reminiscent of Simak at his best.There is however, a big flaw: The aliens from Sarr act almost exactly like humans (despite living in massively different environments) and how they sit and the fact they have tentacles is the only thing that differentiates them from the humans for the first half of the book.The events unfold neatly and unforced which also adds to the realism despite slightly comical premise.There are plenty of laughs (the aliens trade platinum and gold for the drug and although the characters are relatively one flat (this is 1953 science fiction) Clement obviously molds Ken after himself and tries to make others have slightly hidden backgrounds and motives.This is a FUN book which deserves a greater audience.Definitely worthwhile for those who want read the first generation of hard-science fiction! ... Read more

Product Description
In about two hundred years, the human race on Earth is perhaps facing extinction due to the rapid evolution of disease. A crew of young men and women travel to the moons of Saturn, to Titan, to investigate the biochemistry of the pre-life conditions there in the slim hope of discovering something that might save Earth.The whole story runs at high-speed, asthey race to find answers across the surface of an alien landscape with death close behind . . . and gaining.
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Customer Reviews (18)

Yeah, it's . . . science
This book took me almost a month to read and I really don't know why.It's not long and it's not terribly complex but at the same time . . . I don't know.Hard SF is always a tough sell because a lot of writers of that kind of story get all involved in the science part of it and get so wrapped up in their ideas that they forget to write any kind of story to go with the neat ideas (Stephen Baxter is good for this, as well as Larry Niven on occassion, although Gregory Benford never seems to suffer from this problem but maybe I just haven't read enough of his work) and thus for those of us without advanced degrees in physics (or pick the scientific realm of your choice) the story becomes a bit of a slog.Now, Hal Clement is a name that anyone who knows their SF history should recognize instantly, the man has been writing longer than most of us have been alive and his name is on several classics of the genre (Mission of Gravity being the most famous probably) and so when this came out we figured it would probably be at the very least interesting.And it is interesting but it doesn't go much beyond that.The basic premise is that in the future a good portion of the population is afflicted with cripping diseases, our story concerns a handful of them who go off to Saturn to study the place.Because of their diseases they're all kept isolated from each other and thus most of the story is told through dialogue.Actually, most of the time you wouldn't even know they weren't in the same room, thanks to the magic of telecommunications.When I first heard of this book I thought it would be more like a SF version of William Gaddis' JR, where all you get is layer upon layer of dialogue from people who will never meet and thus all you have are their words, which would have been different at least.Alas this isn't the case and most of the time it's hard to tell that the people are far apart.This is coupled with the fact that beyond their illnesses, none of them are real fascinating people and so you have this flat dialogue interspersed with planetary descriptions and the like . . . the threat or something that they have to face isn't real well defined and by the end of the book I still wasn't sure what the great discovery was, if there was any at all.I just knew that people lived and people died and yet nothing seemed that different at the end of the book as compared to the beginning of it.There are some great ideas in here, the premise alone someone could have a field day with, but the execution is . . . eh.In the end there's nothing to really catch you, the action never grabs you, the danger never seems real or imminent and the character don't latch onto you the way they should.It's all very readable but at the same time it left me a bit cold.Fortunately it's not too long and does read quickly (my slow reading was due more to my bizarre work schedule than anything else) but it's hard to recommend to anyone that isn't a scientist or a Hal Clement completist.Everyone else may want to seek out his better known works, although I do hope the man keeps writing into very old age.

Total Confusion
I consider myself fairly scientifically educated for a layman, and I've read hard sci-fi (including other Clement stories) with no problem.But while I understand the basic premise (epedemic diseases) and the reason for the mission, and why they were interested in some of the things on Titan I still have no idea what they found and what, if anything, it meant.This may just be an ignorance of biochemistry on my part, though.

Half Life Half a Book
I have been a Hal Clement fan for decades and buy all of his books.When I noticed that this one would be a timely read what with the recent landing on Titan, I decided to read it right away.

Earth is in trouble.Populations went into a sudden decline as new diseases began popping up.Science was good at identifying the diseases but where behind in the actual cures.An expendable team of not-really experts is sent to Titan to study the pre-biotic environment in hopes of filling in some of the gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the formation and evolution of life.

The book starts with two principles for scientific study and a cast of the characters.The first principle is violated almost every time anyone talks.As for the characters, there is little to distinguish them.They remind me of some Victorian literature where characters are merely referred to by their title as that would be the only way to distinguish them.Unfortunately there is no such trick here to make distinctions.

As the book progresses, the reader is mired in dull plots, little action, and non-characters.There is little reason to want anyone to succeed and as the end of the book approaches, one wonders how it could end in such a short space.

That is another problem.After an entire book of almost nothing, real science is thrown out the window so that a rabbit can be pulled out of a hat for an ending.

As mentioned, I am a big fan of Hal Clement and I really like hard-science novels but this is one that should stay on the shelves and maybe everyone will forget to attribute it to a master like Clement.

Interesting ideas but ultimately a boring read
The writing is dry, the characters are uninteresting and indistinguisable, and the dialogue is flat and lifeless.Unless you are a hard sci-fi addict with nothing else to read, there isn't much to recommend this book.

Stilted and ultimately unrewarding
In "Half Life," Hal Clement serves up a fast-paced but unrewarding scientific detective story set in the foreseeable future. Clement's smooth dialogue and well-realized technologies make "Half Life" worth reading, but his peculiarly colorless portrait of deep-space is disconcerting at best. Clement begins with a gruesomely potent premise: Earth's population is being killed off by rapidly evolving diseases. Hope rests in the not-quite-expert hands of a terminally ill team stationed in orbit above Saturn's moon Titan, who hope to find prebiotic clues to explain the epidemics back home. What follows is an often numbing mass of scientific pontification as the chemist-astronauts pilot telerobotic ramjets to and from the Titanian surface. While Clement is a skilled storyteller, he fails to give the reader any particular reason to want his characters to succeed; his future Earth, when addressed at all, is an abstracted concept, and his characters little more than mouth-pieces for Clement's endless supply of facts and figures. (How many times do we really need to know the wind direction on Titan in exacting detail?) Conceptually interesting but stilted in execution, "Half Life" showcases both the merits and potential pitfalls of "hard" SF. ... Read more

Product Description
A warm tribute to the late Hal Clement, the writer, and to Harry Clement Stubbs, the man behind the pseudonym, this book brings you remembrances by friends and colleagues, a previously uncollected Hal Clement short story, an original story by Walter Hunt, an interview by Darrell Schweitzer, a reminiscence by his widow, Mary Stubbs, and many reminders of the many ways he affected the lives of fans, students, and fellow writers. The contributors to the book begin with the members of the writers' group he mentored, Hal's Pals: Leslie A. Greenleaf, Jr., Sherry Briggs, Tania Ruiz, Anne Warner, Steven F. LeBrun, Matthew Jarpe, Ramona Louise Wheeler, and Lance Dixon. From the professional community come: Ben Bova, Allen M. Steele, Walter H. Hunt, Anthomy Lewis, Jeffrey A. Carver, Michael Swanwick, Stanley Schmidt, Julie E. Czerneda, Isaac Szpindel, Jack Williamson, Michael A. Burstein, David Gerrold, J. Michael Straczynski, Darrell Schweitzer, and Joe Haldeman. All proceeds will go to Milton Academy, the school where Harry taught science for thirty-eight years, and Joslin Diabetes Center, important to Harry because he had the disease. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Honored to be a part of it.
This collection of stories and essays is a tribute to one of science fiction's grand masters, the late Hal Clement. In addition to interviews of the man himself, there are essays on his work and his relationship with the writing group he mentored for so many years. This volume contains my first published short story, Extended Warranty, a part of my own Dark Wing universe.

The contributors to this work have donated all proceeds to the Joslin Diabetes Center and to Milton Academy, where Hal Clement worked for many years as a teacher. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

dull
This is an adventure story that's supposed to be suspenseful, but I just found it dull. Roughly half of the narrative is told from the point of view of aliens, who are too much like humans to be believable, and too poorly characterized to be seen as individuals. There are lots of clever scientific shenanigans involving the exotic planet's environment, but I didn't feel that they were enough to make the story go. ... Read more

Product Description
Donald M. Hassler examines the life and work of American science fiction author Hal Clement. Starmont Reader's Guide 11. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not a Mesklinite in sight
If your anything like me, you wouldn't have heard of Clement much - he isn't in the spotlight of SF. He only ever got recognized as a Grand Master of sci fi recently, being given the award by the SWFA; and also for winning a Hugo for 'uncommon sense', a short work.

This is yet another book in the same universe that Star Light and other Mesklin stories were in. We meet a key character of Star Light, a young Easy - daughter of an ambassodor and a long way from home.
Thats where the trouble is. Yet again we find humans have conquered space, only to discover that they can't really go anywhere they need to - its just not a friendly place. An alien world, with a weather system that makes no sense and a chemical muddle for an atmosphere swallows whole a small craft containing none other than two small children - Easy and her Drommian companion; both are stuck, both are young, and both go a good way into cementing interspecies relations in what turns out to be a masterfully crafted tale of hard science fiction.

An entirely new perspective of science fiction.
How would you explore a planet that was totally impossible to set foot on.This book gives you a perspective of how this could be done by the people that live there.The plot is conceivable. The characters, both human and otherwise are realistic, and the scientific basis for the situation they find themselves in is based on true physics.This book could have been written by Asimov.I think anyone that enjoys a fine fantasy that is plausible will enjoy this book. ... Read more