Tuesday 19 September 2023

Fantasy And SF

Once I told James Blish that I preferred his Earthman, Come Home (interstellar sf) to his Black Easter (dark fantasy). He replied merely that they were completely different kinds of writing. The equivalent in Poul Anderson's works would be to compare Mirkheim with Operation Chaos. In Earthman, Come Home as in Mirkheim, an interstellar civilization approaches its end. In Black Easter, as in Operation Chaos, demons intervene on Earth. Demons also intervene in CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength and in Robert Heinlein's Magic, Inc. 

Blish's Satan becomes God. Neil Gaiman's Lucifer retires and, shortly thereafter, Gaiman's God withdraws to be replaced by His granddaughter, Lucifer's niece. Anderson's, Lewis' and Heinlein's God and Adversary remain in place which is what we except of them. Some traditions are usually respected.

Gaiman writes no sf but matches the others in fantasy. However, we value differences as well as similarities between authors. These particular authors display different degrees of depth and diversity.

2 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

All the writing you mention was 'good', in the sense of technically very competent. Beyond that, it's a matter of taste.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

Correct, not all technically competent, "good" writing will appeal to me. My loss, in many cases!

Ad astra! Sean