Tales From The White Hart
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''Tales from the White Hart'' is a collection of short stories by
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
writer Arthur C. Clarke, in the "club tales" style. Thirteen of the fifteen stories originally appeared across a number of different publications; some had no connection to the White Hart in their original version. " Silence Please" was the title of two distinct stories; the version in the book has a different plot from the original magazine version. "Moving Spirit" and "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" were first published in this book. The
White Hart The White Hart (" hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a ...
is a pub (modelled on the White Horse, New Fetter Lane, just north of
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
, once the weekly rendezvous of science fiction fans in London till the mid 50s, when they moved to the Globe pub in Hatton Garden) where a character named Harry Purvis tells a series of
tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it ...
s. Incidental characters inhabiting the White Hart include science fiction writers
Samuel Youd Sam Youd (16 April 1922 – 3 February 2012) was a British writer best known for science fiction written under the name of John Christopher, including the novels '' The Death of Grass'', ''The Possessors'', and the young-adult novel series ...
(also known as John Christopher),
John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his name ...
(John Beynon), and Clarke himself in addition to the narrative voice as his pseudonym Charles Willis. The style and nature of the stories was inspired by the Jorkens stories of the writer
Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...
, whom Clarke admired and with whom he corresponded, a fact humorously acknowledged by Clarke in his introduction to the first Jorkens omnibus volume. According to Clarke's preface to the book, the book was his third collection of short stories, which were written between 1953 and 1956 in such diverse spots as New York, Miami, Colombo, London and Sydney. One additional story from the White Hart 'universe', "
Let There Be Light "Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek phrase (''genēt ...
", is reprinted in ''Tales of Ten Worlds''. Clarke and Stephen Baxter collaborated on one final White Hart story, "Time, Gentlemen, Please" for a 2007 limited edition from
PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther.Let There Be Light "Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek phrase (''genēt ...
" does not appear in that edition.)


Contents

The collection, originally published in paperback in 1957 by Ballantine Books, includes the following stories.


Reception

''Galaxy'' reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the collection as "as light and frothy a conglomeration of sidesplitters as it has been my good fortune to read.""Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", ''
Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Edi ...
'', June 1957, p.108


Citations


General sources

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External links

* {{Arthur C. Clarke 1957 short story collections Ballantine Books books
White Hart The White Hart (" hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a ...
Short story collections by Arthur C. Clarke Novels and short stories set in taverns