Monday, 17 April 2023

Technology And Retribution

The oldest myths still have real meaning in the most technological of civilizations.

"'If I were a religious man,' the pilot said suddenly, 'I'd call this a plain case of divine vengeance.'"
-James Blish, The Seedling Stars (London, 1972), Book Three, Prologue, p. 108.

And, in Poul Anderson's The Rebel Worlds, Dominic Flandry suggests, not literally of course, that the gods might take action against Admiralty Center towering over the Rocky Mountains.

However, it was Blish that devoted a trilogy to conflict between science and theology with the Strategic Air Command attacking the demon fortress of Dis raised up onto the Earth's surface in Death Valley after Armageddon in The Day After Judgment.

Again I say: Anderson readers, read Blish too.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Unfortunately, I don't think all of Blish's works will interest readers. I tried to reread his Flying Cities books some years ago and lost interest in them by the third volume.

But a fair number of readers should still enjoy A CASE OF CONSCIENCE, BLACK EASTER, and THE DAY AFTER JUDGEMENT.

Ad astra! Sean