 Cover of first edition (hardcover) | |
| Author | Poul Anderson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Gary Friedman [1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 210 pp |
| ISBN | 0-385-05582-X |
| OCLC | 1063757 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.A549 Fi PS3551.N378 |
Fire Time is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1974. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1975. [2]
Fire Time takes place on the planet Ishtar in the "Anubelea" system, located 300 parsecs away from the Sun. Ishtar's peculiar orbit around the three stars of the Anubelea system (Bel, Ea, and Anu) results in the "Fire Time", a dramatic increase in heat every thousand years as the "demon star" Anu approaches the planet. As the northern hemisphere heats up, large numbers of Ishtarians flee south, leading to a collapse of civilization. The northern natives (Valennen) take advantage of the Gathering's (southern natives) culture to win two victories in Valennen territory. The presence of visitors from Earth (also engaged in their own war off-planet at Nasqua) raises the prospect of changing the dynamics of history, though, with Earth involved in an interstellar war of its own, human aid is not guaranteed.
| Name | Short description | Stellar classification | Luminosity | Temperature | Mass | Mean distance from Bel | Aphelion from Bel | Perihelion from Bel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bel | Yellow dwarf | G2V | 0.98 L☉ [4] | 5800 Kelvin [4] | 0.95 M☉ [4] | - | - | - |
| Ea | Red dwarf | not given | not given | not given | not given | 6000 AU | - | - |
| Anu | Red giant | not given | 280 L☉ | not given | 1.22 M☉ | - | 224 AU | 40 AU |
The presence of Gunnar Heim sets this story in the same universe as Anderson's earlier The Star Fox and while both of these books revolve around the theme of conflict, the core themes of Fire Time are more closely related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict than to the Vietnam War allegory of The Star Fox. Several scenes in particular evoke this connection, particularly the sequence of the historical character Sigurdsson declaring the independence of the republic of Eleutheria in a manner not dissimilar to David Ben-Gurion's declaration of the independence of Israel. Anderson took a more nuanced view to Middle-eastern conflict than he did with America's struggle against communism, a theme also developed in There Will Be Time and some of the stories of his "Time Patrol" sequence. To this end, the focus is more political than military. In particular, Gunnar Heim's reappearance is in a much less mercenary capacity, endorsing peaceful co-existence between the warring humans and aliens.
Poul William Anderson was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson also wrote historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
HD 49674 is a solar-type star with an exoplanetary companion in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.10 and thus is an eighth-magnitude star that is too faint to be readily visible to the naked eye. The system is located at a distance of 140.6 light-years from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +12 km/s.
HD 2638 is a ternary star system system in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. The pair have an angular separation of 0.53″ along a position angle of 166.7°, as of 2015. This is system too faint to be visible to the naked eye, having a combined apparent visual magnitude of 9.44; a small telescope is required. The distance to this system is 179.5 light years based on parallax, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +9.6 km/s. The magnitude 7.76 star HD 2567 forms a common proper motion companion to this pair at projected separation 839″.
Ishtar is a Mesopotamian deity.
First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient species' first encounter with another one, given they are from different planets or natural satellites. The theme allows writers to explore such topics such as xenophobia, transcendentalism, and basic linguistics by adapting the anthropological topic of first contact to extraterrestrial cultures.
HD 28185 is a yellow dwarf star similar to the Sun located 128 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. The designation HD 28185 refers to its entry in the Henry Draper catalogue. The star is known to possess one long-period extrasolar planet.
Timewyrm: Genesys is an original Doctor Who novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels. It was the first book in that series, and was thought of by some fans as a continuation of the television series; in effect, a Season 27 to follow the televised Season 26.
Question and Answer is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson. It originally appeared in the June and July 1954 issues of magazine Astounding Science Fiction, and was later reprinted in 1956 as part of Ace Double D-199 under the title Planet of No Return, and again as a stand-alone Ace novel in February 1978 under the original title.
The Psychotechnic League is a future history created by American science fiction writer Poul Anderson. The name "Psychotechnic League" was invented by Sandra Miesel during the early 1980s, to capitalize on Anderson's better-known Polesotechnic League future history. Anderson published 21 novels, novellas and short stories set in this future between 1949 and 1957, with a 22nd published in 1968.
HD 11506 is a star in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. It has a yellow hue and can be viewed with a small telescope but is too faint to be visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 7.51. The distance to this object is 167 light years based on parallax, but it is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −7.5 km/s. It has an absolute magnitude of 3.94.
HD 4203 is a single star in the equatorial constellation of Pisces, near the northern constellation border with Andromeda. It has a yellow hue and is too faint to be viewed with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 8.70. The distance to this object is 266 light years based on parallax, but it is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −14 km/s.
HD 23079 is a star in the southern constellation of Reticulum. Since the star has an apparent visual magnitude of 7.12, it is not visible to the naked eye, but at least in binoculars it should be easily visible. Parallax measurements give a distance estimate of 109 light years from the Sun. it is slowly drifting further away with a radial velocity of +0.65 km/s.
HD 37605 is a star in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It is orange in hue but is too faint to be visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 8.67. Parallax measurements yield a distance estimate of 153 light years from the Sun. It has a high proper motion and is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −22 km/s.
HD 33636 is a binary system located approximately 94 light-years away in Orion constellation. The visible member HD 33636 A is a 7th magnitude yellow main-sequence star. It is located at a distance of 91.6 light years from Earth. It has a metallicity of −0.05 ± 0.07.
HD 290327 is a single star in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It has a yellow hue with an apparent visual magnitude of 8.99, which is too faint to be viewed with the naked eye. Parallax measurements provide a distance estimate of 184 light years from the Sun. It is drifting away with a radial velocity of +29.5 km/s, having come to within 124 light-years around a million years ago.
HD 63765 is an 8th-magnitude G-type main sequence star located approximately 106 light years away in the constellation Carina. This star is smaller, cooler, dimmer, and less massive than the Sun, and has a lower iron content with approximately 69% of the Sun's iron-to-hydrogen ratio. In 2009, a gas giant planet was found in orbit around the star.
The Star Fox is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1965. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.
HD 7199 is a star in the constellation Tucana located 118 light years distance from the Sun based on parallax. It has an orange hue but is too dim to be viewed with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +8.06. The star is drifting further away from the Sun with a radial velocity of +5.6 km/s.
The following is a list of works by science fiction and fantasy author Poul Anderson.
Space travel, or space flight is a classic science-fiction theme that has captivated the public and is almost archetypal for science fiction. Space travel, interplanetary or interstellar, is usually performed in space ships, and spacecraft propulsion in various works ranges from the scientifically plausible to the totally fictitious.
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