Someone could write a single volume Wellsian-Stapledonian future historical text book based on Poul Anderson's Technic History and another on his Time Patrol series. These tasks would be different. The Technic History is already a coherent history, requiring only expansion and elaboration, whereas the Time Patrol series presents only arbitrary events and dates, requiring the creation of a history to connect them.
These are two distinct and independent histories. However, the annals of the Time Patrol record many divergent and deleted timelines. Thus, many other fictional histories, even including the History of Technic Civilization, could be incorporated on that basis. For some earlier speculations on linking the Time Patrol to other works of fiction, see
here.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
In both Wells' THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME and Olaf Stapledon's LAST AND FIRST MEN (I hope I got the titles right), we see two SF authors writing fictional HISTORIES, not STORIES of the kind we see in the works of Poul Anderson. What is your preference? Fictional works of histories or stories showing us people living and acting and speaking?
Now I'll be very soon disconnecting!
Sean
Sean,
If I had to choose, stories.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
As would I! Science fiction written like textbooks might be interesting but not likely to really APPEAL to most people. Some of that kind of thing is necessary in SF, to help advance the plots. What fans call "infodumps." But it has to be done with care, so as not to overwhelm the STORY.
Sean
Paul and Sean:
One of the things that convinced me I wasn't, after all, cut out to be a writer was that I could design future histories (although how PLAUSIBLE some of my developments were is another question), but I couldn't do characterization and dialogue well enough to write stories a sensible person would want to read.
David,
A problem many of us have. I have a couple of attempts at fiction on my Time Travel blog.
Paul.
Kaor, DAVID!
While I think it's true some people can't write fiction very well, that might not have been true of you! Your fellow ex Army veteran, David Drake, has been a successful SF author.
Sean
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