First To The Stars

Fictional space travellers can exist at any stage of the development of their technology. They can be first on the Moon, first on Mars or first beyond the Solar System or alternatively can live in much later periods when travel between planets or stars has become routine. The opening three instalments of Poul Anderson's Technic History describe:

early interplanetary exploration

early interstellar exploration

routine interstellar exploration

- and, in the concluding instalment, human beings have travelled to the far end of another spiral arm of the galaxy.

Before the beginning of World Without Stars, Hugh Valland has experienced nearly three millennia of interstellar travel whereas, at the beginning of After Doomsday, Carl Donnan and his shipmates have just returned from a first exploratory mission. However, as readers, we easily adjust to such diverse perspectives. Decades of science fiction have taught us to expect anything.