In Golden Age sf, interstellar crossings are routinely made through hyperspace or with other FTL drives. In some more recent sf, such crossings are made with interstellar ramjets or other STL drives. I need not again list all of Poul Anderson's contributions to these two scenarios. I have just borrowed
Bowl Of Heaven by Gergory Benford and Larry Niven from the public library. I will read this work to its conclusion and then its sequel if they hold my attention but they must compete with my current re-immersion in Poul and Karen Anderson's
The King Of Ys.
The Prologue of
Bowl... reminds me of Anderson's
Starfarers. See
here. Slower than light interstellar travelers cannot return home either because they will never return to the Solar System or because it will have changed when they return to it. See also Larry Niven's
A World Out Of Time.
Anderson presents many
unusual heavenly bodies but perhaps none that are artifacts like Niven's
Ringworld or Benford's and Niven's Bowl?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I've tried reading some of Larry Niven's later works--and gave up on them. They showed a painfully sad decline in the quality of his writing. But Benford/Niven's BOWL OF HEAVEN seems interesting. I hope it's a good read!
No, I can't recall Poul Anderson trying his hand at creating artifacts like what we see in Niven's RINGWORLD. Now THAT book was not a disappointment!
Sean
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