High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Prelude to Space is a science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke in 1947. However, it was not until 1951 that the story first appeared in magazine format from World Editions Inc as number three in the series Galaxy Science Fiction.Sidgwick Jackson published it in novel form for the British readership in 1953, followed the next year by a US hardcover edition from Gnome Press and a paperback from Ballantine Books.