- William Atheling, Jr. (James Blish), The Issue At Hand (Chicago, 1964), p. 123.
Sf is good for something more than "kicks." Certain authors have made significant contributions to imaginative and speculative literature in its modern form of science fiction. Just a few examples:
Robert Heinlein's Future History followed by Poul Anderson's eight future histories;
Blish's branching future histories;
alternative histories by SM Stirling and others.
Anderson makes us aware that we live both in history and in the universe. Such contributions could not have been made by authors working in the field now and then for kicks.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with you and not with James Blish. And I could list other writers who made unique contributions to SF and F which would not have been very likely to have been written at all if they had been only casual, occasional writers. Andre Norton, Avram Davidson, Sterling Lanier, Reginald Bretnor, Hal Clement, H. Beam Piper the list goes on and on. With me being esp. fond of Davidson's Dr. Eszterhazy and Bretnor's Papa Schimmelhorn stosries. And Hal Clement was an inspiration to Poul Anderson, on how to really BUILD alien worlds.
Sean
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