I post more about Poul Anderson than about James Blish if only because Anderson had a much bigger output. Blish's main future history series,
Cities In Flight, is four volumes or one omnibus volume with a beginning, a middle and an end whereas Anderson's History of Technic Civilization is seventeen volumes or seven omnibus volumes and remained open-ended. Blish's characters face the end of the universe in
Cities In Flight, Volume IV
, The Triumph Of Time,
whereas a different set of Anderson's characters face the same problem in the non-series novel,
Tau Zero. Blish's characters fly to the Metagalactic Centre in
The Triumph Of Time whereas different sets of Anderson's characters fly between galaxies in the non-series novels,
Tao Zero and
World Without Stars. Blish's characters live indefinitely prolonged lifespans in
Cities In Flight whereas different sets of Anderson's characters live indefinitely prolonged lifespans in the non-series novels,
World Without Stars,
The Boat Of A Million Years and
For Love And Glory and in his Time Patrol series.
However, because of several parallels between these two authors, we frequently refer to Blish on the Poul Anderson Appreciation blog. Currently, see here. More generally, see here.
