It makes a difference whether an sf story is part of a series. In Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," background details include a Psionics Corporation and a Federation Science Authority. These organizations do not need to be referred to or to be taken into account in any other work by Anderson since "Call Me Joe" is a one-off/non-series story. By contrast, James Blish's corresponding story of Jovian exploration, "Bridge," was specifically written to explain the discovery of the antigravity that is central to Blish's
Cities In Flight future history. Antigravity becomes possible following experiments conducted in the higher gravitational field of Jupiter. In this respect, "Bridge" parallels "The Saturn Game," the opening story in Anderson's major future history series, the History of Technic Civilization. This story also recounts exploration in the outer Solar System before the commencement of interstellar travel and introduces a minor detail that gains significance later. There is a strong inclination on this blog to return to unravelling the intricacies of the Technic History. However, the current agenda remains to continue rereading "Call Me Joe" and "Bridge" which now will have to be some time tomorrow.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The illustration you chose made me wish, yet again, that someone would compile the uncollected works of Anderson, both fiction and nonfiction. The article I wrote incompletely listing his uncollected works might be useful as a beginning guide.
Ad astra! Sean
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