Interrogation

James Blish said once that, if sf is synthesized with any other genre, than it is the sf element that predominates in the resultant synthesis. This is obvious if it is claimed that Isaac Asimov's Foundation series synthesizes sf with historical fiction. In fact, Foundation is sf but not historical fiction. Poul Anderson's Technic History is a better future history series and Anderson's Time Patrol series is considerably closer to being a genuine sf-historical fiction synthesis. In different works, Anderson imports three kinds of sf characters, time travellers, immortals and extra-terrestrials, into historical periods.

Anderson's Dominic Flandry series is sf spy fiction but mostly sf. Flandry and James Bond have in common that they are action heroes. As fictional accounts of intelligence service operatives, their series are not on a par with the novels of John le Carre, John Gardner etc. A major part of intelligence gathering is interrogation/debriefing of prisoners, defectors, refugees, colleagues returned from missions etc. Flandry once interrogates a prisoner by sensory deprivation whereas Gardner builds a long biographical novel, Maestro, out of his series character, Herbie Kruger's, lengthy interrogation of a Nazi/Communist/gangster suspect.

One observation about such interrogation: we kind of interrogate ourselves when we practice zazen, "just sitting" meditation! Unflattering self-knowledge gradually emerges. A theist would add that the ultimate interrogator, God, makes His presence felt but that is a matter of theological opinion. Apparently, intelligence service interrogators are referred to as "confessors" and the following Kruger novel by Gardner is entitled Confessor. (This is some of my other reading that I recommend to Poul Anderson fans.)