This story reminds me of another Anderson short story, "The Problem of Pain". Evidentally, he had read the book by C.S. Lewis with the same name, and decided to write a counterargument, based on an alien avian species who conceived of their God as a predator animal. So a pair of human missionaries were on this planet trying to convert the bird species, and the wife was dying of a disease. The husband was planning to drug his wife so she wouldn't suffer at her death, but he was called away by an urgent matter. He left her with the birds; but their view of God was that He preys on us and we show our devotion to Him by fighting to the end, despite the pain.
Sounds like a good quick story, I've recently read "The Star Fox" by Poul Anderson which I thought was an enjoyable tale as well, part of the early Gollancz best novels series. Except for the collections you've mentioned, I've seen on the website of the Internet SF database that "Genius" was also part of the Groff Conklin collection "Giants Unleashed" that collected a number of stories by SF greatest authors.
It's interesting to see two authors start with the same basic concepts and develop them in different ways. Another example is Isaac Asimov's robots versus Jack Williamson's humanoids. I read the three Psychotechnic League volumes many years ago and enjoyed them, though I haven't read "Genius." I'll have to look for it. The Polesotechnic League stories, the Flandry stories, and Tau Zero, which I discovered in my junior high school library in the 1970s, are also very good. Recently I have been reading a lot of Alastair Reynolds books.
I’m thrilled that the Blessed Algorithm saw fit to suggest your Tube. I’m a huge fan too and I’m looking forward to combing through your archive and future productions. Poul Anderson was the first SF author I read as a wee lad in 1973. The Guardians of Time collection have influence me since then.
I'm glad you like what we do! I have never read The Guardians of Time. I read all of the Flandry and Van Rijn stories when I was young, along with various other works he wrote. So far my favorite of all is The Night Face. The Saturn Game was great too. I read that in Analog. It won the Nebula for Novella that year.
I haven't read the story, but it looks to me like both Poul Anderson & Isaac Asimov were very much influenced by ideas provided by the editor, John W. Campbell, that is, the editor was giving the same ideas to both authors, so these stories are really examples of a "Campbellian" sub-genre of SF. I suggest that because, during this same period in the 1940's, A.E. Van Vogt was writing stories for Astounding magazine with space empires & similar ideas.
This story reminds me of another Anderson short story, "The Problem of Pain". Evidentally, he had read the book by C.S. Lewis with the same name, and decided to write a counterargument, based on an alien avian species who conceived of their God as a predator animal. So a pair of human missionaries were on this planet trying to convert the bird species, and the wife was dying of a disease. The husband was planning to drug his wife so she wouldn't suffer at her death, but he was called away by an urgent matter. He left her with the birds; but their view of God was that He preys on us and we show our devotion to Him by fighting to the end, despite the pain.
That is a great story. It's been a long time since I read it though.
Sounds like a good quick story, I've recently read "The Star Fox" by Poul Anderson which I thought was an enjoyable tale as well, part of the early Gollancz best novels series. Except for the collections you've mentioned, I've seen on the website of the Internet SF database that "Genius" was also part of the Groff Conklin collection "Giants Unleashed" that collected a number of stories by SF greatest authors.
It's interesting to see two authors start with the same basic concepts and develop them in different ways. Another example is Isaac Asimov's robots versus Jack Williamson's humanoids. I read the three Psychotechnic League volumes many years ago and enjoyed them, though I haven't read "Genius." I'll have to look for it. The Polesotechnic League stories, the Flandry stories, and Tau Zero, which I discovered in my junior high school library in the 1970s, are also very good. Recently I have been reading a lot of Alastair Reynolds books.
The Flandry and Van Reign works were some of my favorites as a teenager also, I'm looking forward to them in my read/reread.
I’m thrilled that the Blessed Algorithm saw fit to suggest your Tube. I’m a huge fan too and I’m looking forward to combing through your archive and future productions. Poul Anderson was the first SF author I read as a wee lad in 1973. The Guardians of Time collection have influence me since then.
I'm glad you like what we do! I have never read The Guardians of Time. I read all of the Flandry and Van Rijn stories when I was young, along with various other works he wrote. So far my favorite of all is The Night Face. The Saturn Game was great too. I read that in Analog. It won the Nebula for Novella that year.
I haven't read the story, but it looks to me like both Poul Anderson & Isaac Asimov were very much influenced by ideas provided by the editor, John W. Campbell, that is, the editor was giving the same ideas to both authors, so these stories are really examples of a "Campbellian" sub-genre of SF. I suggest that because, during this same period in the 1940's, A.E. Van Vogt was writing stories for Astounding magazine with space empires & similar ideas.
Other than a bit of the back story, it sounds a LOT like Foundation. I guess the influence bled over.
Yes it did!