Another Connection

Staying with the Oxford connection for one more post:

in the Morse novel, American tourists in Oxford are invited to imagine "...Friar Roger Bacon (1214-1294)...in his rooms overlooking Folly Bridge..." (Chapter Fifteen, p. 86);

James Blish's novel about Bacon, Doctor Mirabilis, begins and ends with chapters entitled "Folly Bridge";

in Blish's novel, Bacon discovers scientific method, invents gunpowder and has a vision of aircraft, submarines, subterrenes and the Anti-Christ;

thus, Doctor Mirabilis might count not only as historical novel but also as a prequel to modern fantasy and sf?

(Both Blish and Anderson wrote all three genres.)

In any case, we will shortly return to rereading Anderson's The Peregrine.

All one universe.

Addendum, 5 Mar 2026: Doctor Mirabilis is Volume I of Blish's After Such Knowledge Trilogy. Volume II, Black Easter/The Day After Judgement is a contemporary fantasy. Volume III, A Case Of Conscience, is futuristic sf. Thus, the Trilogy summarizes what we are talking about here.