Some Non-Fiction

The second NESFA collection of Poul Anderson's short works includes four articles:

"On Imaginary Science"
"The Hardness of Hard Science Fiction"
"Science Fiction and History"
"Science and Creation"

- which might prove to be fertile sources of discussion for a few posts.

"Hardness" lists three kinds of sf:

(i) The Marvelous Voyage - Homer (see image) or Lucian;

(ii) Prometheus/Mad Scientist/Android/Things Man Was Never Meant to Know/conflict between man and his works - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Brian Aldiss, with whom I agree, argues that modern sf begins here);

(iii) hard sf, a term coined by James Blish who said that it soon changed its meaning, although Anderson does not disclose either what Blish had meant or what the changed meaning was.

To summarize Anderson's own meaning of "hard sf," it explores possible consequences of known scientific facts. Jules Verne is its prime source and archetype. His hard sf works are Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and his two Moon books whereas two other works, Journey To The Center of The Earth and Hector Servadac, are "...tall tales." (p. 198)

Hard sf environments include:

Frank Herbert's Dune;
Larry Niven's Ringworld;
Hal Clement's Mesklin (in Mission Of Gravity);
Poul Anderson's Avalon.

Anderson explains how he planned his Ythrians from the skeleton out. Supercharged beings would need tremendous energy, therefore would be carnivorous and territorial. First biology, then psychology. Anderson writes that The People Of The Wind is not "...the best in any sense..." (p. 201). It is.