'Dealing with possibilities, present and future'

 

“Thehistorical novelist has to consider what has actually happened, while the SFwriter is dealing in possibilities, but they are both in the business ofimagining a world unlike our own and yet connected to it.”– Pamela Sargent

Born on this date in 1948, Sargentis an American science fiction author and editor and winner of the prestigious NebulaAward.  She also has been presented The Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement from The Science Fiction Research Association. 

 

Her best-known works are a series on the terraforming of Venus; theediting of various anthologies celebrating the contributions of women in thehistory of science fiction; and herexcellent Firebrands: The Heroines of Science Fiction and Fantasy(co-authored with Ron Miller) and the Womenof Wonder series.   

                                                                        

 Sargent has penned some 30novels and half-dozen story collections and collaborated on several novelsin the Star Trek series.  Her work isnoted for its connections between time periods. She said history is crucial to Sci Fi writing. “A feeling for history isalmost an essential for writing and appreciating good science fiction,” shesaid.  “(It’s crucial) for sensing theconnections between the past and future that run through our present.”

 

 “My grandfather allowed as how I might live long enough to see a Marslanding,” she said.   “I haven't, ofcourse, except in fiction, including my own, and strongly doubt that I everwill.”

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