Tuesday, 9 April 2019

A Question About Flying Saucers

There are many questions about flying saucers but here is another. Does Poul Anderson have any? Anderson wrote a few short stories in which aliens covertly visit Earth. I could research whether any extraterrestrial spacecraft in these stories are saucer-shaped but maybe I can rely on blog readers either to remember or to reread the relevant works?

I ask for a reason. There was a period when some sf writers based their accounts of alien spacecraft on reports of UFO sightings. For example, Dennis Wheatley had a novel, Star Of Ill-Omen, in which the characters were taken to Mars in vehicles based on UFO accounts.

World In Eclipse by William Dexter, which I am rereading, features classic flying "Discs" for Earth-Moon flight as well as "Spheres of Light" that somehow move at light speed within the Solar System.

So did Anderson tap into this tendency?

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yes, Anderson did "tap" into the UFO/flying saucers theme in a few of his stories. That is most clearly seen in "Peek! I See You!," which I know you didn't much like (altho I enjoyed it). Another story by Anderson where the UFO theme is seen was "When Half Gods Go" (1953). Both stories give us amusing variations or inversions of the UFO/visiting aliens tropes.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I thought that "Peek! I See You!" had saucers or something like and I don't know "When Half Gods Go."
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Well, "Peek!" does have alien space ships described as or called "flying saucers." And I'm sure "When Half Gods Go" is one of your collections of Anderson's stories. I checked my copy of THE GODS LAUGHED to find that tale. I noted how "When" belongs to Anderson's early phase as a writer.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I'll check.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

You might even find "When Half Gods Go" interesting enough to comment on here.

Sean