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Study 057 - A Walk in the Dark (Patreon)

Published:
2023-09-08 01:02:14
Imported:
2026-06
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Join us for A Walk in the Dark by Arthur C. Clarke!

Special thanks to our reader, Mike Mason of Chaosium! Check out his new podcast: Eldritch Stories!

Speaking of which - check out the Eldritch Abominations over at Cryptocurium!

Wanna link your Patreon to Spotify? Here's how!

And here's Michael Bukowski's illustration of the monster from this story!

Next up: Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell

Comments

Matthew Alderman

There needs to be more Audrey Hepburn sci fi movies. Or even one.

Sludgecrawler

The film 2001 spacebaby made no sense. The book 2001 overexplained everything. There are a couple of HD fan edits of the film, at least one of which is really great. Keeps everything essential but significantly ups the pace and downs the run-time. - This week's story though makes me think of the overlooked film Prospect, with the walk through inhospitable wilds and a last departure to catch. The team behind it seems to be working on even more fun stuff set in the same universe too.

The Evil Cub

The Cold Equations is a great story and a sci-fi classic and I hate it. I hate it in the best way, but it's definitely in the category of "art I experience once and never need to revisit".

John Powell

I wouldn’t recommend Childhood’s End as a first Clarke novel to read. I think Rendezvous with Rama is a much better entry. Or an omnibus collection of his short stories. He was a master of the craft of short sf.

Carter Stepper

This story I was unfamiliar with, but very fun! I do hope you do Childhoods End; I used to teach it and it is a super interesting story. What’s especially interesting is the subtle “theology” Clark has in the story, or to put it another way, he takes classic religious beliefs from Christianity and gives quasi-scientific expression to them.

The Spider Incident

On the topic of technology: Socrates complained about written language, saying "[writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory." Ironically, we know this because Plato wrote it down. (Also, I remember people saying the exact same thing when gps navigation became common in cars.) So yeah, I think it's safe to say humans have always had concerns about over-reliance on new technologies.

It's a Ghost.

I’ve watched 2001 only once, which was when I was in my mid teens, and I was indeed rather bored and disappointed; and yet, in a sense, I feel like it, or at least its imagery, has stuck with me a lot more than a lot of other movies I’ve seen over the years.

It's a Ghost.

Oh, and one last thing, chitinous is actually pronounced Frank Belknap Long. Just kidding, it’s actually pronounced 'kī-tᵊn-əs :)

Illegal_Structures

I feed my roving wave lattices kitchen scraps. They especially like lettuce leaf and Swiss chard stems; in return they keep the garden free of slugs and their eggs are delicious!

Michael Cunliffe

I can’t believe that Arthur C Clarke wrote the prequel novelisation of Pitch Black!

Stacy Schumacher

This story made me think of the times I did bat surveys, often by myself, at night. I would walk different routes with a device that recorded calls. The surveys I did in populated areas generally felt like nice nighttime strolls, but one route was in this gnarly old cedar forest, completely isolated and alone. My rational brain knew there was no one there, and I don't believe in cryptids, etc., and no wildlife that would hurt me. But despite me saying this to myself over and over like a mantra it was a terrifying route to walk alone, with just a flashlight. If anything would have touched my shoulder I'm convinced I would have jumped 100 ft in the air. Looking forward to the next time I do it, where a clicking sound may have a similar effect.

The Lonely Sand Person

For what it's worth, planets with numbers after them is the standard way to refer to celestial bodies. Fargon IV would be the fourth planet out from the star Fargon. Earth can also be referred to as Sol III.

The Lonely Sand Person

Ugh, I can't stand the Cold Equations. It's just so clearly contrived to generate the required scenario. The bay where they're loading this extremely important medicine isn't locked, guarded, or even monitored? This allegedly professional pod pilot didn't pause to open lone door in the ship and confirm that the medicine did indeed get loaded before he launched? He didn't do even a cursory inspection of his vessel before launching on a mission that can't possibly abort if anything goes wrong? He doesn't instantly notice that the pod is sluggish on launch, indicating possible engine trouble? The starship's scedule is so tight that it can't possibly wait just a few hours to confirm delivery of the medicine? Stupid experts: 5/5.

Jim Cannon

Larry Underwood in the Lincoln Tunnel.

Pete Williams

Watch 2001 in 3 segments. I first watched it over 3 nights. I'm not really a Kubrick fan. I couldn't put my finger on why till I read an interview in which he said you just need 5 or 6 sections to make a movie. I still feel like his scripts are just some bits stuck together. I get his films are important and visually and thematically impressive but he's not for me.

Matt Shank

So glad you guys are finally available on Spotify! I've moved over most of my podcasts and music to there, but I've maintained a separate feed just for my favorite podcast (that would be you). Now I can finally finish consolidating.

Ravewolf

I always had mixed feelings about Clarke, as I enjoyed some of his ideas, but felt like a lot of it just boiled down to replacing God with a Space Being, which didn't actually feel all that creative to me. It's kind of old hat these days, with lots of hack writers imitating such ideas about super beings from beyond spreading space seeds that created humanity, or at least helped evolve humanity, for films like Prometheus, as a sort of go-to in sci by now. Kind of like how we had a rash of stories and films about human communities living in isolation underground during the cold war and the threat of nuclear war or some other apocalypse. (Logans Run, THX 1138 etc.) It's as if all stories, however cosmic, have to be about us in the end or something. I almost sort of prefer HG Wells' aliens not giving a care, as it somehow feels more believable than a cosmos encircling alien conspiracy to develop and encourage consciousness.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

Chad saw Harrison Ford eating a salad? Well, this one time I myself was *delayed* eating a salad because Tony Danza was standing in the way of the food while checking his phone. One of the great injustices in life.

Steve

Jinkies! Great Shaggy impersonation from Chad.

Avlin Starfall

Also Arthur C. Clarke was the part of the inspiration for the main characters name in one of the best horror games ever made Dead Space. The main character is named Isaac Clarke, Isaac from Isaac Asimov and Clarke from Arthur C. Clarke.

Devin Morse

Childhood's End is borderline cosmic horror. There's also an awesome Pink Floyd song by that name.

Drasferatu

I’ve been listening to your shows for upwards of a decade. You finally got me to sign up for Patreon today. You sonsabitches.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I first watched 2001 as a wee lad on a huge screen in a cinema a few blocks from my home. A great place to spend long days with double or triple features in air-conditioned bliss. A few coins for snacks. Dimly lighted stars on the ceiling. Maybe twenty people in the theatre with me. I loved it. Still do.

ESTY

I picture Stanley Kubrick as a teenaged dungeon master: “The nearest inn is 2 days journey away. So; you’re walking, you’re walking, you’re walking, you’re you’re walking…..”

Eric S. Vallone, M.D.

I believe that the most insightful statement regarding the cold indifference of outer space to humans who choose to travel through it was made by Rick Sanchez who said, “Ugh, you young people think space is like "Saturday Night Live. " You see it every day, so you dream of being in it, but it dreams of removing all the air from your body and making you float around it for eternity as a flash-mummified corpse, which is also what space wants, so get back in the car.”

Paula Wyche

I'm not a Clarke fan but I would love if you did The Nine Billion Names of God. It's sci-fi clunky, but oh that ending!

Joshua Weiss

The plot of this story-- walking in the dark, pursued by monsters, trying to get to the ship and escape the planet-- it essentially what happens in the SF/action movie "Pitch Black." I wonder how much inspiration Clarke took from Vin Diesel's cult classic.

GG2025

I have always felt the top two science fiction writers were Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick. Also in the mix are Ursula K LeGuin and CL Moore, who the podcast introduced me to. I might even elevate those women writers because they can actually create characters who seem real. Sure, Asimov and Clarke have “big ideas” but they can’t seem to breathe life into a character the way any well-rounded sf writer can.