Today, November 25, is the birthday of Poul Anderson (1926-2001). Anderson was a master of both fantasy and science fiction. I’ll have a review of some of his sf going up at Futures Past and Present in a day or so.
The quote above is one I hadn’t seen before getting ready to work on this post. It is a perfect encapsulation of Anderson’s work. He was always entertaining, first and foremost. And what he’s saying there is spot on. There’s too much dull message fiction being published these days, where the message is more important that the entertainment.
So if you want entertainment, in either science fiction or fantasy, check out some Poul Anderson.
I just finished Brain Wave by Anderson- it’s good classic sci-fi, and one of his lesser known works
I haven’t read that one yet. It’s on the list. I finished The Van Rijn Method this evening, and I’m reading There Will Be Time on my phone.
I hadn’t seen that quote! It parallels ERB’s pithy observation: “Entertainment is fiction’s purpose.”
I found it when I looked for a picture of Anderson. I didn’t want to reuse one I had. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to use it.
Anderson’s right and he was able to write entertaining stories that also had a message. To many now are only concern with the message usually Woke peities. (Though I have read works with right wing messages that were just as bad.)