Action And Ideas

Poul Anderson both wrote good action fiction and presented ideas through fiction. Occasionally, I think that the action is unnecessary, e.g., in The Boat Of A Million Years, a rescue from a hospital could have happened off-stage if it even had to happen.

A few stories have a lot of action but do present an idea at the end, e.g.:

"The Nest";
"Eutopia";
"The Master Key";
"Brake."

"Brake" works its way both to an explanation of why the characters are fighting and to the solution of a technical problem. Anderson heroes are good fighters and problem-solvers.