Benford and Zebrowski's introduction
explores not only the theme of the space habitat in SF, but the complications
of adapting humanity to a claustrophobic zero-gee environment: psychosocial
dynamics, economics, bone and muscle atrophy, radiation shielding -- even
the problem of convincing plants to provide food and oxygen in an alien
environment.
Walking around the artifact
Most of the stories in Skylife
take an equally rigorous hard SF approach to the subject.
Arthur
C. Clarke's 1957 story "The Other Side of the Sky" is typical of both
the anthology and of Clarke's own early work-- joyous, fun, scientifically
accurate, and so full of gosh-wow that it often feels more like a World's
Fair film about the House of Tomorrow than a story.
As Skylife' s introduction
observes, "most habitat stories feature an obligatory walk-around-the-artifact
scene," and this story offers little else. When the walk is this much fun,
though, who cares?
"Living in a space colony would be like being at a science fiction convention held aboard a nuclear submarine ... forever!"
Other stories are more speculative.
Stephen
Baxter contributes "Open Loops", a Stapledonian tale that takes us
from a hypernova explosion eons before our sun was created to the farthest
reaches of the future, when mankind has ridden its macrolife colonies to
every sun visible in the night sky.
The biggest surprise of the
anthology, however, is Don Wilcox's "The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years",
first published in 1940 and last reprinted in 1953.
Though its character development
and dialogue are simplistic by modern SF standards, the story is a delight
that has aged very little in 60 years. It also features the first appearance
of a generation starship, a full year before Robert Heinlein made the idea
famous with his story "Universe".
Eight pages of color reproductions
of art by Chesley Bonestell, Bob Eggleton and others round out this engrossing
study of space colonization. Skylife is a magnificent book, one
that spans the range of SF from nostalgia to the cutting edge.
What do you think? Send your
comments to the editor.
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