2001: An Odyssey in Words (Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s centenary).

2001: An Odyssey in Words is an original anthology from the Clarke Awards, honouring Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s centenary – with the interesting twist that every story is precisely two thousand and one words long.

Launched on 16th December 2017, Sir Arthur’s centenary birthday, the awards crew were able to achieve their initial funding goal of £5000 in under a week and currently have over £7000 pledged by 196 backers.

Their Kickstarter closes next Sunday, and they’re now chasing an ambitious stretch goal of £10,000, with a bonus reward for every backer if they succeed.

If they hit that target, they’ll be adding a digital soundtrack for each backer, created by film and theatre composer Heather Fenoughty, originally commissioned by the Clarke Award and the British Science Fiction Association and inspired by Sir Arthur’s works.

Here’s Heather to share a little more about how she approached the project:

“Every now again there’s a hint of triple time, until the final piece, which is almost entirely in triple time as the three laws become cemented together.

“In order to keep a sense of coherence between these three quite distinct tracks, I used a theme based on Clarke’s initials A-C-C, and this can be heard throughout the pieces in one form or another.

“In all of the pieces I tried to convey a sense of epic storytelling, wonder, awe, the potential for greatness, a challenge, the possibility of danger and hope of the future.”

Track 1: The Elderly Scientist.

“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”

A sense of time passing, inexorably. A calm, stately, assured scientist, secure in the infallibility of his knowledge gained over the passage of the years, questions are answered, harmonies are kept simple… then something occurs to disrupt the scientist’s assuredness, harmonies become muddied, outside voices disagree and shout all the more, all the while the scientist stubbornly stays insistent in his correctness (the A-C-C theme), time continues to pass, until… finally, there’s a feeling of the scientist relenting, though proved wrong on this occasion his eyes are opened to greater possibilities…

Track 2: Venture… into the Impossible.

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”

A journey into time and space. Initially, preparation, slow, solo flights, calm, in known space and time. The cold beauty of the journey, hinting at the future soon to be revealed, communication, transmissions… into the drama of the first journey in the true unknown, an impossible journey, the strength and determination of the travellers, their elation, hopes, fears, the A-C-C theme, Arthur C. Clarke and his predictions and vision, carrying them on… until they pass out of our field of contact into the unknown.

Track 3: Indistinguishable from Magic.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

A piece written almost entirely in triple time, evoking the joy and elation of the ‘magic’ of the future. Journeys in time and space, wonder and awe, hope and surprise. A constant feel of the machines and technology creating the magic, but without taking away from the wonder they would inspire in any less advanced culture. The A-C-C theme is developed into a full melody, then into a moment of introspection, where the mechanics fade away and all that is left is the mystery, the potential of what will come next, then into the final section, pushing further and further upwards into the future and on into… who knows.

You can check out their Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tomhunter/2001-an-odyssey-in-words