I have reached an age when I realize first that many of the sf writers whom we saw at Cons when we went to Cons have died and secondly that some of those authors wrote long series with which I am unfamiliar or maybe have never heard of like the
Dumarest saga by EC Tubb. Decades ago, I would have embarked on reading such an sf series whereas now the idea makes me feel tired! We recognize cliches like Earth being called "Terra" in the future. Poul Anderson used but transcended cliches like hyperspace, Terran Empire and hostile green aliens and also wrote other works in which no such cliches appear.
I cannot possibly know whether Anderson's Technic History is the "best" sf series ever even if there were an agreed set of criteria for such an assessment. Who can read everything? Some fans and pros have read a lot more than I have, especially of more recently published works. Some prefer Anderson's Time Patrol to his Technic History. What I can definitely state is that, if any work is to surpass the Technic History, then it must be of an extremely high quality.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
One "new" writer whose works I enjoyed reading was David Wingrove's CHUNG KUO series, set in a world where China bloodily conquered all Earth--and then compelled Earth's peoples to move into towering Cities named after the continents.
I have the first eight volumes, before publication was stopped, for reasons unclear to me. I enjoyed them all, except I thought the first, SON OF HEAVEN, fairly weak. Most of that book was set in England, and I found those parts flat and colorless.
I recently found out a new publisher is reprinting and completing the CHUNG KUO series, meaning I might be able to get the last six volumes.
Just a thought! Sean
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