Saturday, December 27, 2008

The heritage value of comets

In the short story Of late I dreamt of Venus by James van Pelt (The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 21, 2008, edited by Gardner Dozois, pp 84-99), various comets are manoeuvred into orbit around Venus, to provide water for terraforming. However, there is opposition:

There's a lobby defending Halley's Comet for its 'historical and traditional values', as well as several groups who argue that 'comets possess a lasting mythic and aesthetic relation with the people of Earth'.


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:00 pm

    That story is available online for free: http://www.hadleyrillebooks.com/JimVanPelt1.pdf

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  2. It's interesting that quite a few science fiction writers these days make reference to heritage issues. Ahead of space industry in dealing with social implications of space travel as usual!

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