As a long time fan of science fiction writing and books, I was thrilled to find this article in Science Daily, Research To Investigate Links Between Ancient Greeks And Modern Science Fiction. According to the article:
There is a long tradition of fantasy in Greek literature that begins with Odysseus’ fantastic travels in Homer’s Odyssey. Dr Karen Ni-Mheallaigh, at the University of Liverpool’s School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, is exploring fantasy in ancient literature, examining theories of modern science fiction writing and how these can be applied to texts from the ancient world.Dr Ni-Mheallaigh is looking at the work of 2nd century AD writer, Lucian of Samosata, who wrote True Histories, a travel narrative that includes an account of a trip to the moon and interstellar warfare. Antihanes of Berge – who wrote about his travels in the far north of Europe, where it was so cold that conversations ‘froze in the air,’ – will also be examined, as well as the writer Herodotus who wrote about ‘flying snakes; and ‘giant gold-digging ants’ in India.
Dr Ni-Mheallaigh explains: “Fantasy writing in the ancient world is still relatively unexplored from a literary perspective. What is so interesting about these fantastical journeys is that many of them are written in the form of truthful travel logs and historical texts. The Greeks had a fascination with the exotic and other worlds and some writers travelled to the north and Far East to satisfy their intrigue. The cultures they found there were so different from their own that they were inspired to fantasize and speculate about even more remote and exotic worlds.
“The Greeks seemed to have had an anxiety about writing pure fiction, and so writers who were notorious for their ‘tall’ tales — such as Ctesias, Antiphanes and Megathenes – would write about their adventures in the form of travel logs, or back up their findings with pseudo-documentary evidence, such as ‘rediscovered’ texts or invented inscriptions.”
This is so exciting to me. For ages I, and obviously many others, thought that science fiction was a new concept. That people didn’t appreciate stories about other worlds. Well, guess what? They did.
The idea that science fiction is a long held tradition and has such a legacy in history gives science fiction more credibility. I can’t tell you how many times people scoff when I tell them I read science fiction. I scoffed for ages before being led by the nose into science fiction and became infatuated with it. The idea of the “impossible” being possible excites me. I want to know what it is like to travel the stars, explore strange new worlds, and discover that we’re not the only things floating around the universe with two brain cells to rub together.
The Legacy of Science Fiction and Alan Dean Foster
I’m a huge fan of Alan Dean Foster, the first science fiction author I became acquainted with. I’ve read just about everything he’s every published, including his writings on his website.
I love this quote from the introduction on his website:
Hello – my name is Alan Dean Foster. I’ve been trying to see as much of this planet as possible, and using my imagination to examine worlds beyond it. Worlds both possible (science-fiction) and impossible (fantasy).
Right in keeping with the article above. His books are indeed a journey into new worlds, and new ways of thinking. In his book, Spellsinger
Early on with his Flinx series, he introduces us to a world where aliens are just “different” from us, like bipedal humanoid species shown on Star Trek, but REALLY different. In a prequel to his Flinx series, Phylogenesis : Book One of The Founding of the Commonwealth
To the Vanishing Point
In Glory Lane
I have a lot of favorites when it comes to Alan Dean Foster’s work, but one book and one series of books stands out over all of his other work as my absolute favorite books of all time.
The Journeys of the Catechist series is an amazing journey of an African style man through foreign lands on his quest to do “what is right”. It speaks to the moral issues of choice and decision and keeping promises, but the amazing landscapes and creatures he experiences in his travels will not only astound you with their imagery, but remind you of a few people you know. His ability to anthropomorphize animals is incredible. The series begins with the start of the quest and the gathering of traveling friends in Carnivores of Light and Darkness
The other favorite book, and I wish he’d do a sequel on this one, too, is Quozl
As one of the most prolific writers of our time, Alan Dean Foster may be well remembered hundreds of years from now as the man who prepared us for those future meetings with aliens, maybe shifting the human paranoia away from the fear of bugs when these bug-like creatures arrive.
Thank you, Alan Dean Foster, for changing the world and the way many people think of science fiction. You brought the humanity back into science fiction writing.