Friday 12 November 2021

The Technic History And Cities In Flight

Poul Anderson Appreciation is bigger than James Blish Appreciation only because Anderson's output was bigger.

Anderson's main future history series, the Technic History, originally sixteen volumes and four short stories, is complete in seven omnibus volumes whereas Blish's main future history series, Cities In Flight, comprising four novels, is complete in one omnibus volume.

Anderson's account of an intergalactic and inter-cosmic journey, Tau Zero, is an independent novel whereas Blish's corresponding work, The Triumph Of Time, is Volume IV of Cities In Flight.

The Technic History opens with a short story about interplanetary exploration followed by another about interstellar exploration whereas Cities In Flight opens with a short novel about Jovian exploration and about the two discoveries that make interstellar travel possible.

Having compared Anderson's Technic History with Heinlein's Future History, I am minded to reread Cities In Flight, Volume I, They Shall Have Stars, for any comparisons with Andersonian and Heinleinian future history building. (But there also other works to reread.)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Regrettably, I lost interest in Blish's Cities in Flight books after I reached the third volume the last time I tried to reread them. My tastes and inclinations had changed since the first time I read these stories.

Ad astra! Sean