Blog Rules Of Thumb

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will travel with others from Lancaster to Liverpool to counter-demonstrate against a white racist march through the city - more will come from Manchester - so maybe no posts here, although I cannot maintain this rate of output in any case!

Regular readers may have begun to notice some emergent rules of thumb for the blog -

(i) Mention HG Wells at every opportunity. He is always relevant and should be acknowledged as the great precursor. Poul Anderson acknowledges him in There Will Be Time. Wells is relevant to:

space travel
time travel
alien invasion
future history
future society
future warfare (aircraft, atom bombs, tanks)
utopias
dystopias
alternative histories

(ii) Discuss other authors when relevant. Anderson makes major contributions to several traditions which continue after him.

(iii) Keep returning to Anderson. There is always more to say about his works, so far.

(iv) Discuss philosophy, religion, society, economics, history, cosmology, technology - all the issues addressed in Anderson's works of fiction.

(v) Invite other contributions. Please disagree with me. I disagree with Poul Anderson on some issues, although not on valuing human freedom, creativity and diversity.

(vi) Occasionally report on Lancaster life to reflect local reality outside the computer screen.