Tuesday 11 October 2016

Current Reading

I have been reading SM Stirling and rereading Poul Anderson for blogging purposes. However, I am also currently rereading Stieg Larsson whose plots are long and intricate. However, Larsson wrote only one Trilogy and I am less than 150 pages away from the end of Volume III. Thus, Larsson can compete with Anderson and Stirling temporarily although not permanently.

Larsson's journalists, hackers and spies use computer technology that was sf until recently. They uncover a conspiracy within Swedish Intelligence but not any time travelers or extraterrestrials. That is not necessarily because such clandestine beings do not exist but merely because Larsson did not write in that genre. A crossover sequel to Larsson's trilogy and to Anderson's Time Patrol series would be able to show Time Patrol agents monitoring Swedish Intelligence without intervening.

If radio messages are received from an extrasolar civilization within our lifetimes, then novelists will be able to refer to such messages without writing sf. I remain fascinated by this close yet distinct interface between sf and other genres. And Poul Anderson's scope is so vast that almost any other reading or experience can be made relevant to this blog.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I ardently hope we do get or find such radio messages from non human intelligent beings soon! Or find any other evidence of non human civilizations. Poul Anderson discussed such issues in his book IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS? (Collier: 1964). Michael A.G. Michaud gave us similar discussions in his more recent book CONTACT WITH ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS (Copernicus Books: 2010). I could also mention Anderson's short stories "The Word To Space" or "Peek! I See You!"

Sean