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Description
In a few hours at most, the Master and his dreams of Empire would have vanished into the past. Nations would still curse his name, but they would no longer fear it. Later, even the hatred would be gone and he would mean no more to the world than Hitler or Napoleon or Genghis Kahn. Like them he would be a blurred figure far down the infinite corridor of time, dwindling towards oblivion.
---Arthur C. Clarke - "Exile of the Eons"

This is easily in my top 10 of favorite science fiction stories out of the thousands I've read. On the surface its simple - I think it's a "Poetic Curse". This is interesting since Clarke was steadfast against paranormal belief though forced to adopt the possibility of "Telepathy" by the Campbell era of Science Fiction. However he had a lifelong correspondence with Lord Dunsany and that influenced him and his writing.
This story, my opinion, on the surface is a poetic curse against any WW2 German officers if they use cryogenic technology to escape into the future. There were horrific experiments with hypothermia, more sadism than science and there was speculation some might have done this as a few went missing for a long time. In reality they retired to Brazil or Argentina. Still it gives the likes of modern comics like "Hellboy" fresh nasty bad guys and the symbol of "Cold" for their hearts is neat plot material.
Beyond that the story plays with time, the nature of time how eons can be seconds or seconds eons. And it has several more levels of symbolism but is very easy and entertaining to read. Dark and beautiful.

It is a wonderful story and out of love (Platonic, let's not go there) for A.C. Clarke's writings I do encourage purchase of it - might be available on Amazon/Kindle? Still if you search you can find it ARCHived and ORGanized somewhere or of course in a used bookstore/ebay collection. "Expedition to Earth" is one collection -titled "Nemesis" and in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke" There was also an incredible comic adaptation of it in the late Underground Era/Early Direct market comic "Andromeda" issue 3 - warning is underground so plenty of bizarre/NSFW content otherwise besides the story which was good and solid.

Artwork inspired by this story but also it is for the TTRPG (Table-Top Role Playing Game) project I'm working on with others - the "Orange Sun / Far-Tomorrows" is a setting and template that looks like a traditional fantasy world like the main RPG of the genre. However it veers back to Jack Vance's paradigm being a world of the far-future to explain the layers of lost caverns and ruins, the monsters, the people - even the "Magic". The latter is Magic -but only because some far future but to them the far-past civilizations and powerful beings altered space-time to allow it. Thus per Clarke himself; "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from Magic"

The type of character this is is a "Time Exile" where its possible to put characters from the dim past or other realms and genres in the game and setting. At first they might think they are in the past or some primitive world but things add up differently, such as the moon being green and blue and shimmering with a halo of an atomosphere, or the town clock having gears and weights but instead of carefully spinning dials it opens and closes wood flaps to appear much like a modern digital clock display.

Thus an Exiled Dictator who was a monster and at the same time an exiled ideological criminal can be characters and equally out of place.

Digital art - Midjourney assist - Will be used for Orange Sun/Far Tomorrows - BUT - if there's a re-print of Clarke's works - USE THEM. Please give me and my website a link but no $ I love Clarke and if he's re-printed somewhere and they use these I'll be lined up to buy the magazine and give it a shout. -- Devlog for project - fartomorrows.blogspot.com/

--Maxx Feral

Description
In a few hours at most, the Master and his dreams of Empire would have vanished into the past. Nations would still curse his name, but they would no longer fear it. Later, even the hatred would be gone and he would mean no more to the world than Hitler or Napoleon or Genghis Kahn. Like them he would be a blurred figure far down the infinite corridor of time, dwindling towards oblivion.
---Arthur C. Clarke - "Exile of the Eons"

This is easily in my top 10 of favorite science fiction stories out of the thousands I've read. On the surface its simple - I think it's a "Poetic Curse". This is interesting since Clarke was steadfast against paranormal belief though forced to adopt the possibility of "Telepathy" by the Campbell era of Science Fiction. However he had a lifelong correspondence with Lord Dunsany and that influenced him and his writing.
This story, my opinion, on the surface is a poetic curse against any WW2 German officers if they use cryogenic technology to escape into the future. There were horrific experiments with hypothermia, more sadism than science and there was speculation some might have done this as a few went missing for a long time. In reality they retired to Brazil or Argentina. Still it gives the likes of modern comics like "Hellboy" fresh nasty bad guys and the symbol of "Cold" for their hearts is neat plot material.
Beyond that the story plays with time, the nature of time how eons can be seconds or seconds eons. And it has several more levels of symbolism but is very easy and entertaining to read. Dark and beautiful.

It is a wonderful story and out of love (Platonic, let's not go there) for A.C. Clarke's writings I do encourage purchase of it - might be available on Amazon/Kindle? Still if you search you can find it ARCHived and ORGanized somewhere or of course in a used bookstore/ebay collection. "Expedition to Earth" is one collection -titled "Nemesis" and in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke" There was also an incredible comic adaptation of it in the late Underground Era/Early Direct market comic "Andromeda" issue 3 - warning is underground so plenty of bizarre/NSFW content otherwise besides the story which was good and solid.

Artwork inspired by this story but also it is for the TTRPG (Table-Top Role Playing Game) project I'm working on with others - the "Orange Sun / Far-Tomorrows" is a setting and template that looks like a traditional fantasy world like the main RPG of the genre. However it veers back to Jack Vance's paradigm being a world of the far-future to explain the layers of lost caverns and ruins, the monsters, the people - even the "Magic". The latter is Magic -but only because some far future but to them the far-past civilizations and powerful beings altered space-time to allow it. Thus per Clarke himself; "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from Magic"

The type of character this is is a "Time Exile" where its possible to put characters from the dim past or other realms and genres in the game and setting. At first they might think they are in the past or some primitive world but things add up differently, such as the moon being green and blue and shimmering with a halo of an atomosphere, or the town clock having gears and weights but instead of carefully spinning dials it opens and closes wood flaps to appear much like a modern digital clock display.

Thus an Exiled Dictator who was a monster and at the same time an exiled ideological criminal can be characters and equally out of place.

Digital art - Midjourney assist - Will be used for Orange Sun/Far Tomorrows - BUT - if there's a re-print of Clarke's works - USE THEM. Please give me and my website a link but no $ I love Clarke and if he's re-printed somewhere and they use these I'll be lined up to buy the magazine and give it a shout. -- Devlog for project - fartomorrows.blogspot.com/

--Maxx Feral