Science fiction needs to clear away the light pollution and show us the glories of the stars again. Now, in darker times, we seem to be on the road to losing the stars, losing the urge to explore. We in the West went from horse-drawn carriages to rockets in less than fifty years. Flush from conquering a new continent Americans of the early twentieth century had a positive vision of the future. And I like humanity, in general, if not all its specific manifestations. It seems obvious to me that staying on one planet is a dead end for humanity. You want to make a difference in the world-write science fiction that will touch the hearts of these people. As Travis Taylor's story and article illustrate, the dreams of the writers become the dreams of the engineers and scientists who shape the direction of our technology. Decisions about what kind of future we want to aim for can be played out in the pages of our magazines and novels. I've long thought that it's one of science fiction's most important jobs to explore the future in fiction. Still, at least I can read stories about it! If we as a species are going to get there, we have to remember that we want to go. I can witness humanity's first tentative steps in the direction of the endless frontier-but the chances of me, personally, getting out there are small. I will not be on the Nina, the Pinta nor the Santa Maria, let alone the Mayflower. And I have come to realize that I am not going to be living in the age of humanity's great expansion into space. Out of the known or knowable, Imagination connects the remote, reinterprets the familiar, or discovers hidden realities." -From From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, Jacques BarzunĪs I write this it is the eve of the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight off the North Carolina dunes. Weisskopf "To imagine is not to fashion charming make-believe. Why do we need tales about "Strange adventures on other worlds, the universe of the future"? T.K.F. INTRODUCTION Strange adventures on other worlds, the universe of the future. WEISSKOPF Tomorrow Sucks (with Greg Cox) Tomorrow Bites (with Greg Cox) Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Far Futures (forthcoming) From "Blood's A Rover" by Gregory BenfordīAEN BOOKS edited by T.K.F. She looked down and in a glance knew that the Earth and the Pinwheel were two similar systems, brothers of vastly different scales. Ideas floated through her mind like silent fireworks. She was beyond fear now, in a curious calm. The last few days had stripped away her comfortable preconceptions, leaving her open to naked wonder. The kinetic whirligig of all these events dizzied her. Now she rode an unending whirl of immeasurably greater difficulty. Only a short while ago she had thought that the ravenous green, eating at the pale deserts, waged an epic struggle. She had felt its many adjustments and percussive changes as it struggled against both elements, air and vacuum, so this latest long undulation seemed unremarkable. She wondered what would happen to them next. They were nearing the top of their ascent, the Pinwheel pointing vertically, as if to bury itself in the heart of the planet. The spectacle of her whole world, spread out in silent majesty, struck her. Their air, too, thickened as the tree's walls exuded a sweet-scented, moist vapor. Dawn still felt strong acceleration into the compartment's floor, but it was lesser now as gravity countered the centrifugal whirl. OPEN TO WONDER The Pinwheel was now framed against the whole expanse of Earth. Box 1403 Riverdale, NY 10471 ISBN: 0-7434-8832-6 Cover art by Bob Eggleton First paperback printing, June 2004ĭistributed by Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH Printed in the United State of America For my husband, Hank Reinhardt And with thanks to Hank Davis, comrade in arms A Baen Books Original Baen Publishing Enterprises P.O. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
CONVOLVER AUDIO HIJACK WINDOWS
Cosmic Tales - Adventures in Sol System Table of Contents INTRODUCTION MCANDREW AND THE LAW JAILHOUSE ROCK WINDOWS CLEANING LADY ARE WE THERE YET? COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEM HIGH ROLLER MOON MONKEYS EARTH'S FIRST IMPROVED CHIMP GETS JOB AS A JANITOR TIME IN PURGATORY THE CUTTING FRINGE The Science in the Story BLOOD'S A ROVERĬosmic Tales-Adventures in Sol System Edited by Toni Weisskopf This is a work of fiction.
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