> Good list of names there. I've read shorter examples of all of their work, including > some science stuff, in the pages of Analog magazine. Well, the modern ones anyway, > except maybe Forward, I don't recall seeing his name. > > Yes, SCIENCE Fiction is the place to go for good stuff. SciFi is now fantasy with > aliens replacing elves, if they even do that. > > History is a science, right? Sort of? It at least falls into the category SF, where > the "S" is "speculative."
I think Dan Simmons, more than once on his own forum, aptly put it: scifi is Fantasy in space. Skiffy, as in 'iffy' (although, he heard or read a female author who made up the 'skiffy' thing in the 60s, I think).
Science fiction is the archaic form, SF - speculative fiction, etc - being the mature form.
Alas, history is not a science. But I think I see what you mean.
Robert Forward wasn't well-known, and I don't know as his stories were that literary. I think he was more in the 'bare' hard SF group.
Consider it high comedy....sincere tragedy....whatever...don't take it personally.
The Culture
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