Parallel Authors

Culminations probably indicates why I think of Poul Anderson and James Blish in parallel. "The Horn of Time the Hunter," Mission To The Heart Stars and "This Earth of Hours" all involve a spaceship returning from the direction of the galactic centre. The Technic History and Cities In Flight recount the rise and fall of interstellar civilizations. In "The Horn," Jorn reflects that:

"When you fled at almost the speed of light, time shrank for you, and in his own life he had seen the flower and the fall of an empire."

-Maurai And Kith, p. 218.

The universe ends in Tau Zero and The Triumph Of Time. The parallel extends to changes in supernatural realms in works of fantasy. Thus, in The King Of Ys (with Karen Anderson), the Olympians, the Three of Ys and Mithras all withdraw before the new God born in the reign of Augustus and the Age of Aquarius while, in Black Easter/The Day After Judgement, demons win Armageddon but then Satan, now God, undoes the damage.

There is an endless cycle of destruction and renewal, it seems. 

Decades ago, Brian Aldiss ended a short story with the phrase:

"...a voice singing in a new universe."

-Brian Aldiss, "Dumb Show" IN Aldiss, Space, Time And Nathaniel (London, 1966), pp. 153-159 AT p. 159.

- and thus spoke for sf.