Wednesday 28 March 2012

Past and Future Histories

Poul Anderson wrote fictional narratives:

with historical settings (historical fiction);

about supernatural beings (fantasy);
about supernatural beings in historical settings (historical fantasy);
about time travel, space travel, alien contact, immortality, telepathy, artificial intelligence, future society etc (science fiction (sf));
about sf themes in historical settings (historical sf);
set in successive future periods (sf future histories).

A fantasy novel about Robert E. Howard's character Conan is set in a prehistoric civilisation.
A historical novel about the originals of Odin and Thor is set during the Roman Republic.
A fantasy tetralogy about the last King of Ys co-written with Karen Anderson is set during the decline of the Roman Empire.
Five fantasy novels featuring Odin etc and one historical trilogy about King Harald Hardrada are set in the Viking period.
Three novels in different genres are set in the fourteenth century.
One long novel follows mutant immortals through recorded history into the future.
Six volumes describe time travel between past, present and future periods.
Several short stories in different genres are set in past periods.
Four novels and several short stories are set in alternative histories where, e. g., Shakespeare's plays were true histories or technology is magical, not scientific.


Anderson's works also include one contemporary fantasy novel, three mystery novels, eight future histories and many individual works of futuristic fiction. His works move from a mythical past when gods were real through solidly realised past, alternative and future histories to a remote era when evolving post-organic intelligence re-creates extinct humanity and plans to survive stellar mortality. Comprehensive and impressive by anybody's standards.

Note: a comprehensive bibliography for this short piece would be several times longer than it. Interested readers who are unfamiliar with Anderson's works may find information on other websites but can also comment to ask for specific titles.

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