Sunday 4 November 2018

Nature On Trek

Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars, 18 Database.

I thought that Port Bowen on Luna was named after an astronaut but maybe I was mistaken?

Jerry Bowen, who designs laser-launched spacecraft, meets Anson and Juliana Guthrie, who can finance them although preferably in Ecuador and with international backing, not in the Renewal-dominated US. Anson quotes Heinlein. (See image.) When we read Heinlein's The Man Who Sold The Moon, we did not know that we would one day read Anderson's Harvest Of Stars but it fits. Harriman, Heinlein's title character, had referred back to Wells, Verne and Smith. But why is this still science fiction?

When Bowen visits the Guthries' hotel suite, Anderson describes the weather: blustering wind drives clouds "...whose shadows scythed over roofs and streets." (p. 175) Autumnal trees toss and dead leaves scurry, "...as if all nature were on trek." (ibid.) Anson, referring to Bowen's spaceship designs, says, "'...it's go.'" (ibid.) It is as if nature goes with them.

Bowen has dreamed with:

Clarke
Bussard
O'Neill
Forward
Matloff
Hunter
Woodcock
Friesen
the Hudsons (p. 174)

I have not heard of all of those. Maybe you folks can google them this time?

11 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm surprised such pioneers of rocketry and space technology as Robert H. Goddard and Wernher von Braun was not in this list!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Were they a bit earlier?
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

They were! But Goddard and von Braun had successors who built on their work.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
There was also that old Russian guy, Tsiolovsky.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I actually thought of Tsiolkovsky, who worked on rocketry around 1900, but I couldn't quite recall his name.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
And a Willy Ley?
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And Willy Ley as well! Albeit, he worked mostly as a popularizer, explainer, and advocate of rocketry and space flight.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Like Clarke?
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Here I would say "No." Sir Arthur Clarke was best known as a science fiction, not as a pioneer of rocketry.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
But he is on the list in HARVEST OF STARS because he popularized spaceflight and originated the synchronous orbits communication satellites idea.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That is true. Very well, Sir Arthur was also a rocketry pioneer.

Sean