interstellar exploration
interstellar trade
interstellar imperialism
diverse interstellar civilizations
Five stages in a future history series that grew organically, the first and fifth stages each represented by only a single story with forty-one instalments including many novels between them. OK: I can never get over how good Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization is, with The Earth Book Of Stormgate as its peak surpassing Robert Heinlein's The Green Hills Of Earth.
James Blish was my all time favourite sf writer before I really got into Poul Anderson whose output is so vast that it can take some time to get into him properly. A Dominic Flandry story read in a magazine and thought to be a one-off gives no hint of how much comes before and after.
The recent Jupiter Project got me into rereading James Blish's They Shall Have Stars for the first time in a long time which has enhanced my appreciation of this novel as the opening volume of a future history series - although not as vast as Anderson's. One major difference between these two authors is their outputs.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I think it should be six stages. After "interstellar trade" I would insert "breakdown, the Time of Troubles." With the Terran Empire eventually arising and restoring order.
Ad astra! Sean
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