Sunday 22 November 2020

"A Grand Science Fiction Flavor"

Poul Anderson wrote that the United States has "...a grand science fiction flavor..." See here.

To me, in childhood, "spacemen" and "cowboys and Indians" were two kinds of genre fiction. Dan Dare and Jeff Arnold were both in the Eagle. Cowboys and Indians were like astronauts and aliens.

The US has wide open spaces, a space program and, currently, two alternative narratives of an election result! Story premise: a news reporter or political commentator who is able to cross back and forth between divergent post-election realities.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have read a few "Westerns," stories about Cowboys and Indians, but they never appealed to me. They seemed far too retro and nostalgic for my taste. I vastly prefer, as you know, either hard science fiction or well done fantasies of the kind Anderson and Tolkien wrote.

I'm resigned to the unspeakable and contemptible Joe Biden becoming president of the US. I am convinced there was fraud, corruption, and irregularities in the voting by the Democrats, but probably not enough, except in a couple of states, to change the overall outcome.

One fear I have is whether the awful ideas and policies of the Democrats will prevent Elon Musk from founding that colony on Mars. If so, that would be a TRUE tragedy. It would be all too reminiscent of Anderson's story "Murphy's Hall"!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I wouldn't have thought that the Dems could interfere with Musk's plans? - assuming that he can do what he says, of course.

Are your expressions of political disagreement overly intense? "...unspeakable and contemptible..."! Might it be enough just to say that you disagree with and would not vote for certain candidates? Is Trump conducting himself creditably during the transition? If there is some electoral corruption in the US system, is it just on one side?

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Except that crushing taxes and endless bureaucratic nonsense and red tape can discourage and choke off technological innovations of the kind Musk has been working on.

One reason for my contempt for Joe Biden is that he claims to be a Catholic, BUT has completely caved in to the pro abortion fanatics. Because that was the way get support for being nominated as a presidential candidate. No CONVINCED Catholic can ever be pro abortion. And there are plenty of other reasons for my dislike, such as his basically left wing, high tax, perpetually expanding of the powers of the gov't views.

Compared to the Democrats, I will take President Trump, warts and flaws, any day. And if he runs again in 2024, I would vote for him, if possible.

Ad astra! Sean