Does anyone imagine that The Complete Robot is a better omnibus collection than Time Patrol or that Asimov's Robots followed by his Galactic Empire constitute a better future history series than Anderson's Psychotechnic League followed by his Terran Empire? These are two interstellar empires, each with a different version of "hyperspace," but otherwise they could not possibly be more different.
Asimov's The End Of Eternity was not on the shelf but contrast that with Anderson's several time travel narratives of different lengths: short stories, novels and a series.
Anderson and Asimov both wrote detective fiction which I am unable to compare in terms of quality although I suspect that Anderson's descriptions of 1950s San Francisco beat anything Asimov wrote.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I too share your annoyance at this baffling ignoring of Anderson's works! When I go to Barnes and Noble I see far too many of Asimov's overrated works and often nothing by Anderson (albeit I have seen the three volumes of THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE). Besides the example you cited of PA's Technic History, I wish book stores would offer reprints of THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS, THE HIGH CRUSADE, or THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, me too. Fortunately, in e-books very nearly the complete Anderson corpus is available. This is a truly SFnal change in publishing, where books used to just vanish.
Back in 2010, I spent nearly a year getting a physical copy of a work by a favorite author (Patricia Finney's SHADOW OF GULLS, first-rate historical she wrote at the age of 17), and finally had to order it from a store in New Zealand.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I have nothing against e-books per se. But I'm old fashioned enough to PREFER hard copy books.
But if you've seen my "Uncollected Works of Poul Anderson" article, you would have noted how I listed over ninety items written by PA, most of them works which has never yet been collected and republished. And I know that list is incomplete and more stories and essays should be included.
I'm a bit surprised at the trouble you had finding that book by Patricia Finney. I've gotten a fair number of books by ordering them online and having them mailed to me.
Ad astra! Sean
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