Whereas Anderson's Technic History incorporates military actions into a future history, Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium History reduces a future history to nothing but military actions. (Correct me if I am wrong.) Pournelle also edited a long series of sf anthologies called There Will Be War.
Without denying that (unfortunately) there (probably) will be war, it seems to me that we read sf for imagination and speculation, not for repetition. I am more likely to reread the Technic History than to read the CoDominium History. I read one "War World" story because it was by Anderson but am not in any hurry to read the rest of that sub-series. I am interested in how the Man-Kzin Wars fit into Larry Niven's Known Space future history but nevertheless might not read a lot more of MKW.
Books have to prove that they are worth reading. (I resisted reading Alan Moore's Swamp Thing but then found that it is worth reading precisely because it goes way beyond the implications of that title!)
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
there is a good deal of military science fiction in Pournelle's Co-Dominium timeline, but stories of that kind are not the only ones to be found in it. I did not think Niven/Pournelle's THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE or THE GRIPPING HAND to be military SF.
Imagination and speculation can be used for writing about categories of activities likely to be repeated, such as the organized conflict called war. Which is why I was to appreciated and/or enjoy many of the stories and articles in the THERE WILL BE WAR series edited by Pournelle.
Ad astra! Sean
There was plenty of non-military action in Jerry's "Co-Dominium" universe, including political intrigue, meetings with aliens, technology puzzles, etc.
War dominates, I think. First Contact with Moties is made by a ship that has just subjugated a rebel planet.
Kaor, Paul!
I still disagree. The incident you mentioned was at the END of a rebellion. The rest of THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE is non military.
Ad astra! Sean
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