James Blish's works incorporate:
a cosmic collision;
a vision of Armageddon, an exploding planet and an actual Armageddon in a single Trilogy;
an ecological catastrophe with the text ending in mid-sentence;
a nova;
(with Norman L. Knight) an asteroid strike which is not the end of the world "...but we shall all be changed." (Chapter heading.)
When a star goes nova, a fleet of FTL spaceships escapes but war breaks out back on the planet. What is left to fight about? But would everyone remain rational or even sane? The global Head of State, the Matriarch, had announced in advance that she would not be in any of the escaping ships: good moral leadership.
Poul Anderson's works incorporate:
the sterilization of Earth;
both a time traveller and a spaceship crew outlasting the universe;
the destruction of the planet Starkad when a rogue planet strikes the star Saxo.
Again, the Starkadians continue to fight while the Terran xenologist, John Ridenour, tries to evacuate representatives of each Starkadian culture.
Maybe more on this tomorrow. (I have just got back home from a public meeting on the future of Earth.)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Why "Matriarch," instead of "Queen," "Empress," or "President"?
I don't think the Tigeries and Sea People were FIGHTING at the end of ENSIGN FLANDRY. More likely HEATEDLY disputing control of access to resources both races needed; with the Imperials acting as mediators, trying to broker a compromise both could live with. Also, the horrid shock of finding out Starkad had only a few more Terran years to exist must have made it harder for the leaders of Kursoviki and the Six Point to think calmly.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
In a couple of works, Blish imagined ability to predetermine the sex of a child leading to a glut of males and women monopolizing political power. He did not go into details.
Paul.
Paul: actually, that would probably produce a lot of violence.
Kaor, Paul!
And I agree more with Stirling than with Blish, for similar reasons.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Jim!
And a lot of violence from frustrated males unable to have normal relationships with women, both sexual and non-sexual.
Ad astra! Sean
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