James Blish's The Seedling Stars is a single volume in four parts, originally five stories, about the single theme of pantropy, the science of adapting human beings to other planetary environments. It conclusion is that, when Adapted Men have filled the galaxy, Earth has changed so much that it is colonized by Adapted Men.
Twilight World and The Seedling Stars both address changes to the human form and extraterrestrial colonization.
Anderson's Maurai And Kith is a collection of only three Maurai stories and two Kith stories although later a third story was added to the Kith series and a long novel to both series. The theme of the Maurai Federation series is that, after a nuclear war, seafaring people of the Southern Hemisphere become the world power. We get a sense of Poul Anderson exploring every possibility.
James Blish's Okie series was complete as four stories in one volume. However, Blish added a prequel, a juvenile novel and a sequel. Okie culture ends in Volume III and the universe ends in Volume IV.
Larry Niven's Known Space is a long future history series with a definite ending. Because human beings are artificially selected for the inheritable psychic power of luck, Known Space and the Thousand Worlds become utopian societies of lucky people about whom Niven becomes unable to write any more stories! As Fran Cobden remarked, "...an amazing idea!"
Other short future histories:
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But recall how Stirling discussed that, as Anderson was writing the stories "fixed up" in TWILIGHT WORLD, little was known about how radiation would genetically affect human beings. It was later determined that kind of radiation would not seriously change future generations. If only because people made ill by radiation sickness could not have children.
I still think readers need to keep in mind the error Anderson made in the original Maurai stories about metals becoming prohibitively costly and rare. Something Anderson walked back from in ORION SHALL RISE. Stirling discussed how there would still be plenty of sources for metals available to survivors of the War of Judgement. That availability of metals would drastically affect whatever arose after the War.
Niven came to regret using that "good luck" gene for his Known Space stories. Because that made it impossible to write more stories set in that timeline. Other writers, like Anderson and Stirling, were wiser, leaving gaps in their series and keeping them open ended, for possible additions and extensions.
Ad astra! Sean
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