The Road to the Sea

by Arthur C. Clarke

"The Road to the Sea" was first published in the spring 1951 issue of Two Complete Science-Adventure Books.

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

©2000 Arthur C. Clarke (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

Audible Audio

Published August 16, 2016

About the author

Stories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.

He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse 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 fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Reviews

[Anima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical prose constructs thought provoking tale

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a classic style of science fiction. It still holds up well although some of the characters seem rather blase about their living conditions.

The story: The best of the best leave Earth to go exploring across the universe leaving the rest to wallow at home. The people left behind slowly lose their technology and most of their creative spark. One man travels to one of the old abandoned cities to look for old technology. Finding something that works, even something mundane as an iPod, would be impressive... perhaps to impress the woman he loves. So off he goes, but he finds something even better.

I enjoyed the story. I generally don't like short stories, but this one was reasonably good. I might read it again just to see if it improves on a second reading.

[Robbie Sheerin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just become one of my favorite short stories by Clarke.

This is a wonderful story set thousands of years in the future, and surprisingly set on earth, when many of other stories of the time have written off earth as a desolate and dead planet.

This main character explores his surroundings and very subtle references are made of the past, but it’s clear what they are. ‘Steel monsters’ that crashed in the desert, ‘centurions of soldiers from a fallen empire,’ marching on concrete roads that have stood the test of time. ‘Armies of the prophet’ marching westward toward Christianity. The Greeks ‘Trojan house’

The narrative of this story is the age old tale of love and fighting over a girl. But it is so much more than that, with Clarkes imaginative inventions of the future. Including the first reference, I believe in classic sci-fi, of an Ipod. This story culminates in an epic revelation highlighting that our, ‘Milkyway is only scattering of third rate suns,’ and that there is so much more out there in in deep space.

Finding this gem was a hidden treasure for me. I loved it!

[David Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid sci-fi story by one of the greats.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a great story except for the ending (which was abrupt and just meh); an editor could have fixed it with one rewrite. Still, interesting concepts (mandatory migration at two different scales as a solution to ossification of culture; decentralization).

[Fernando Olea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long winded... yet with Clarke's clarity.

[begemot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very underwhelming and muddled in terms of its central message. I didn’t find the image of the far future of the human species realistic at all. I also don’t see what the problem is, when it comes to the two types of society that were juxtaposed against each other - the “stagnant” Earth villagers that lead simple lives close to nature and the technologically advanced space dwellers, visiting and populating other solar systems. At an individual level, mileages will vary - some people will prefer one or the other. At the societal level, again, depending on how we determine what our priorities are and what the purpose of our existence should be, one or the other might be preferable. But more to the point, members of both societies in the story actually have a choice to go and try the other way of life if they felt like it. So there really is no problem that could justify all the ennui. Yes, change is the only constant, and yes, it can be heartbreaking when it’s happening at a large scale. But that is nothing new and it didn’t quite come across as the main point of the story.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who really enjoys Clarke, it’s hard to rate a pair of his stories so low.

The time when it was written is important here, as it’s full of sexism and ridiculous misunderstandings and assumptions about humans.

But, it’s really just not particularly good. It’s a story that was written dozens of times before this, and better.

The characters are uninteresting. The world building is basically nonexistent.

The final section about the nature of art was interesting other than the misanthropy, but the rest is just not worth it.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Road to the Sea (Audible Audio)
by Arthur C. Clarke
An exceptional story showing the nature of changes in society. the theory of advancement in technology is so remarkable as it predicted things far in the future. He was able to show they social change that comes with advancements and time. I really loved the connections with finding Troy, and archeological finds.
The presentation is remarkable, in its attractive nature to the story, changing it from the divided story that was originally printed.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had already read this once in a collection of science fiction works, but all together forgot about it until coming across the title here and going through a run of Arthur C. Clarke's works. I remember mildly liking it the first time around and the second time was no different. It's definitely dated but it's always good to go back to the classics.

[Randy Mcbride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was curious how well this book had aged since it was written over 70 years ago. The style of writing is slower paced possibly than most writers today would use. But Clarke avoided including a lot time on stuff that does not hold up over time, like say Robert Heinlein does.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story meanders among themes the author has used in many of his stories... it's a bit annoying to have a story that seems to have No Point. And what's with Art and Space travel... an Arthur C. Clarke thing?

[Angel Hernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story could have been great, but ends abruptly.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great novella where you can really see Arthur trying out the ideas and themes he would explore much more deeply with Rendezvous with Rama, one of my favorite novels by him.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quest for a womans affection leads a young artist to the city of Shastar where he finds answers. Started promising but ended abrupt

[Nick Dorman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Swing and a miss.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short tail

[Twainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd ending!

[David Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite Quote =“The future is built on the rubbish of the past; wisdom lies in facing that fact, not in fighting against it.”

[Andrew Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the whole story, but the ending was a letdown. 3.5

[William Barbosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t believe Arthur C. Clarke predicted Spotify Premium and people using JBL Bluetooth speakers at the beach

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't my favorite. It all takes place on a strange Earth, but not that strange? The science fiction element was mostly missing. idk.

[Gareth Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best by far

[cypher · Rating 3 out of 5]

short story. it was ok, but i did not particularly find it engaging..."The Nine Billion Names of God" was at a different level

[Gary Mcfarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have a digital copy of this book.

[Lyndon Goodacre · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novella gets better and better as it goes. Some exposition in the first 1/3 struck me as pretty clumsy and boring and I almost quit. And for a longer short tale, there isn't too much in the way of character, and the emotional significance comes later. The prose is really nice, though. And the world is unusual. The intro had grown more enjoyable and vivid when I reread it—having accepted that I wasn't thrilled about aspects, and knowing where it was headed, suspending disbelief, and soaking up the images. I think Clarke was trying to write in the style of Olaf Stapledon in Star Maker (a huge influence on him) without some of the elements that made that style work. In short, it's experimental.

That's the point of short fiction, and the second half of the story is worth the setup. The Road to the Sea hops dozens of centuries into the far future, but you can puzzle out where on Earth the main story takes place (I did a little googling), which is neat! And the ending has a punchline. Let's not spoil that, and you'll want to discover the theme as you read, rather than in a review, but I liked the ending's terse ambiguity and the contrast between gargantuan (interstellar) and small (personal). Apparently Clarke explored this epochal scale further with the Rama series (which definitely was inspired by Stapledon, so I think that approach really was what he was up to here). I would read the novella again and want to check out Rama now.

[JoeK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this novella as part of a collection of all of Clark's shorter fiction. I wasn't planning on reviewing them each individually since it would take longer to write the review than reading the story in many cases. I wanted to review this one because I saw a lot of reviews unfairly calling it misogynistic. It is definitely "of its time" assuming that 1950s courting rituals would survive thousands of years into the future. No one treats females poorly, but two boys are vying for the attentions of one girl and she is playing them against each other (intentionally or not). Clarke also makes it pretty clear that she doesn't even love either of the boys before she disappears from the story.

The competition for the girl's affection is the catalyst for an admittedly unamazing tale that was already going places that other authors had already been visiting by this time in SF history. The theme is "The meek shall inherit the Earth because the bold shall inherit the stars!"The only spin Clarke puts on the story is that in this case the meek seemed pretty content with the way things had turned out and wanted those space guys to leave them alone.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple artist turns his back on extraterrestrial humanoid rescuers who predicted chaos would arrive on Earth. He instead paints his crush as Helen of Troy.

[Željko Filipin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in The Collected Stories. He predicted personal music players. He also predicted they will be banned in public places.