Angels And Demons

In James Blish's Black Easter and The Day After Judgment, demons, conjured by a magician, are fallen angels, supernatural, hypersomatic. There is speculation that they are energy, thus that their "eternal life" is permanent negative entropy but this question is not pursued.

In Blish's The Star Dwellers and Mission To The Heart Stars, "Angels," designated as such by their human discoverers, are almost immortal energy beings, formed by the same nebular processes that generate stars. Since these Angels claim to serve the First Cause, perhaps the angelic terminology is more appropriate than was first thought?

An intermediate group is the eldila in CS Lewis' Ransom Trilogy. These immortal, inorganic beings, barely visible to human eyes, inhabit space, which they call "Heaven," and serve a mysterious being called Maleldil. However, "bent," i.e. evil, eldila oppose Maleldil, are confined to Earth and are responsible for most of the ills suffered by humanity.

Thus, Blish assumes supernatural angels and demons in two works of fantasy and speculates about energy beings in two works of hard sf whereas Lewis restates his Christian beliefs in a trilogy of "soft" sf.

And now, for the love of the gods, I must pause to eat. (But see also Poul Anderson's "Kyrie.")