Cosmic Fiction

In mainstream fiction, stars are seen at night and that is the extent of the involvement with the cosmos whereas sf is fiction with a cosmic context. In Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, cosmic radiation affects Terrestrial brains. In Larry Niven's Known Space future history series, human beings are mutated Pak breeder colonists of a former Slaver food planet. In CS Lewis's Ransom Trilogy, the three volumes are set respectively on Mars, Venus and (wait for it) Earth. However, Ransom returns to Earth able to speak Solar, thus to converse with extra-planetary visitors, and this is the best novel in the series.

Sometimes cosmology and cosmogony are central to the plot of a novel, e.g., Anderson's Tau Zero, World Without Stars and Starfarers. Shortly, we will revisit Anderson's non-fiction article, "Science and Creation."