Xeno- Studies

In the Solar Commonwealth period of Poul Anderson's Technic History, a Solar Spice & Liquors trade pioneer crew comprises a Master Merchant, a planetologist and a xenobiologist, according to van Rijn in "Trader Team"/"The Trouble Twisters." Elsewhere (here), I have referred to the last two as a planetographer and a xenologist. "Xenologist" is the usual name for Chee Lan's profession in the Technic History.

I mention this because, in James Blish's A Case Of Conscience, a young woman called Dr. Liu Meid is a leading xenozoologist. Authors have not yet settled down on a single terminology. Anderson and Blish wrote the same kind of sf but Anderson wrote a lot more of it which is why this blog is mainly about him.

As I blog, Dr. Alice Roberts on the Digging For Britain TV series covers the periods of Norse and Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain which we read about in Poul Anderson's fiction.

From the past through the present into the future.

In the historic Merchants pub, a Greek comrade asked a member of staff whether he was Italian but he turned out to be Portugese. I remarked that Lancaster is an international city - as well as historical. We welcome diversity and hope for more in the future, as in Anderson's "How To Be Ethnic..."