Going for Infinity : A Literary Journey

By Poul Anderson

Book Overview

More than just a collection of some of Poul Anderson's most acclaimed works, Going for Infinity is both a celebration and a memoir of Anderson's distinguished sixty-year career in science fiction and fantasy. Along with several Hugo and Nebula Award-winning stories, Anderson also shares autobiographical musings, and fond memories as he looks back at a lifetime spent crafting many of science fiction's most memorable adventures. Between the short story and novel excerpts collected here, which range over the entire length of Anderson's career, he reminisces about his experiences, including his encounters with such peers and colleagues as John W. Campbell, Anthony Boucher, "Gordy" Dickson, Jack Vance, Clifford Simak, and Harlan Ellison. Going for Infinity provides a firsthand look at six decades of science fiction and fantasy, as lived by one of the field's most honored contributors. From the moons of Saturn to the shores of an enchanted isle, the astounding breadth of Poul Anderson's imagination is on ample display throughout this once-in-a-lifetime collection, along with a personal glimpse into the man himself.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765303590
• ISBN13: 9780765303592
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader

An autobiographical and chronological wander through the author's career, as written by himself. A reasonable selection at over 3.40, although it includes a couple of novel excerpts, one of which works, the other, no, although the idea is to be representative of the novels mentioned in his introductions. Anyway, some interesting trivia bits in there amongst the stuff about writing, like the story about him and Jack Vance and Frank Hebert building a boat, having it sunk, and how they refloated it. A just around 3.75 work, but can round up for the anecdotes in between. Going For Infinity : The Saturn Game - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Gypsy - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Sam Hall - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Death and the Knight - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Journeys End - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : The Horn of Time the Hunter - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : The Master Key - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : The Problem of Pain - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Quest - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Windmill - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Three Hearts and Three Lions - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Epilogue - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Dead Phone - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Goat Song - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : Kyrie - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : A Midsummer Tempest - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : The Shrine for Lost Children - Poul Anderson Going For Infinity : The Queen of Air and Darkness - Poul Anderson Fantasy accident throw. 3.5 out of 5 Traveler homecoming leavetaking. 3.5 out of 5 H for Hitback. 3.5 out of 5 Templar Time Patrol. 3 out of 5 Telepathy no meeting of minds. 3 out of 5 Degenerate swimmers means go. 3.5 out of 5 They domesticated, us wild, for cash, too. 4 out of 5 Flying alien religion misunderstanding poisonous. 3 out of 5 A lot of pommie space knights. 3.5 out of 5 Ecospy bust. 3.5 out of 5 Werewolf mystery. 3.5 out of 5 Robot race Zero radio last men conflict. 3.5 out of 5 A black widow case. 3.5 out of 5 Computer go between has decent pipes. 3 out of 5 Supernova human alien telepathic communication ending prolonged. 4 out of 5 Rupert Shakespeare reality. 2.5 out of 5 Peace place. 3 out of 5 A fairy stole my baby. 4.5 out of 5

Going For Infinity

very nice compilation of his stories.... mostly odd bits of ideas, but his writing is so charming they make for very nice reading

Science, philosophy, poetry

"Going for Infinity" contains eighteen stories by Poul Anderson, written over the course of a half-century. Fifty years is an immensely long time in the history of science fiction. It almost is the history of science fiction. In terms of literature, though, fifty years is nothing. Science fiction has hardly begun its life in human culture. No wonder, then, that it has changed so much since its birth, just like a baby does in its first few years. From mute and helpless infant, to crawler and communicator, to walker and talker. Poul Anderson's writing covers in time most of the life of the genre of science fiction, but the stories in Going for Infinity range less widely in style and substance than the genre as a whole. Anderson says in the Introduction: "What [Robert Gleason, my editor] had in mind [for this book] was not simply another collection, but a retrospective - besides stories, something about their origins, backgrounds, contexts, a historical overview of the science fiction and fantasy field throughout those decades." Then Anderson immediately follows with: "Of course, this isn't really possible. I have been only one writer among many, and how wonderfully diverse a lot they were and are! " Anderson's own stories in this collection are largely the product of a fairly straightforward synergy of contemporary science (contemporary to the time of writing), and imagination. In introducing the first story, "The Saturn Game," published in 1981, he recounts his visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory a few years later "to witness Voyager One's flyby of this very planet." Anderson had also written another story set on the Saturnine moon Iapetus. Anderson wondered, Would my speculation prove completely mistaken? It's a risk that science fiction always takes, a risk that in the long run becomes an inevitability. But would this piece of mine have any run of might-be-so at all? This realism, this concern that a story fit the facts, characterizes most of Anderson's stories in "Going for Infinity." These are not William Gibson stories. Most of them are science fiction as a backdrop of unfamiliarity against which the ordinary - but lonely, sad, evil, good, beautiful - stands out in a new and exciting way, or maybe just a simpler, more obvious, less complicated way. Economics, democracy, religion - these are all examined anew under the strange light of an unfamiliar sun. Another mark of Anderson's stories is the emphasis on the writing itself. He tells stories, but even more he paints images and composes music in language. Not just fantasy clichés of `purple mountains on the horizon', but lines crafted from a conscious and deliberate wielding of language and words and rhythm and space. This, I think, is the most satisfying element of Anderson's work here. There is more to enjoy, though. Anderson introduces every story with comments on the story itself, or its inception, context, or repercussions. He mentions other writers, other times, other ideas.

Homage to a grandmaster

GOING FOR INFINITY pays homage to one of the speculative fiction's greatest authors of the twentieth century by providing a taste of Poul Anderson's works as well as his retrospective thoughts over the six decades he wrote. The tales run the gamut of science fiction and fantasy with mystery thrown in showing how diverse a writer Mr. Anderson was. Some of the science fiction seems obsolete, but when looked from a historiographic perspective provides insight into the times the stories were written and into the mind of a creative individual. The fantasies and detective contributions hold up better as they clearly show Mr. Anderson's real talent of turning the obviously impossible into something that feels real and genuine; thus leaving the awed audience celebrating the classic works of a noteworthy renaissance writer.Harriet Klausner