Reflections on Enchantress from the Stars and Other Essays

by Sylvia Engdahl

Overview

In the title essay of this ebook science fiction author Sylvia Engdahl discusses her Newbery Honor book Enchantress from the Stars--which she intended for teens rather than children--pointing out reactions to it that she finds disturbing. The story is literally about relations between species that have evolved in different time frames on separate planets, she says, and to interpret it as an allegory about intercultural relations on Earth implies that some cultures of our world are more "primitive" than others, a view long ago rejected by anthropolgists. Though there is much in the book that does indeed apply to people of our own world, the elder species' attitude toward younger ones does not, since we of Earth are all members of the same species. It is relevant not to how we view each other, but to how we view our relation to the rest of the universe--for example, whether we should expect extraterrestrial civiliations to send the radio messages across space that many scientists now hope to receive, or to arrive here in UFOs either as invaders or to solve Earth's problems for us. How young people picture aliens is important whether or not we ever meet any, for it affects society's outlook toward the future of Earth.

Other essays in this ebook are about Engdahl's five other Young Adult novels, her five adult science fiction novels, and her viewa on writing for young people. Also included are two autobiographical essays illustrated with photos.

Please note: This ebook is one of three that replace Reflections on the Future, which dealt with several different topics that have now been separated. Most of the essays in this one were in that book. A paperback book containing a few essays from each of the three current collections is available under the title Selected Essays on Enchantress from the Stars and More.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940163380527
Publisher:	Ad Stellae Books
Publication date:	11/01/2019
Series:	Collected Essays , #1
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of eleven science fiction novels. She is best known for her six traditionally-published Young Adult novels that are also enjoyed by adults, all but one of which are now available in indie editions. That one, Enchantress from the Stars, was a Newbery Honor book, winner of the 2000 Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association, and a finalist for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category. Her Children of the Star trilogy, originally written for teens, was reissued by a different publisher as adult SF.

Recently she has written five independently-published novels for adults, the Founders pf Maclairn dulogy and the Captain of Estel trilogy. Although all her novels take place in the distant future, in most csses on hypothetical worlds, and thus are categorized as science fiction, they are are directed more to mainstream readers than to avid science fiction fans.

Engdahl has also issued an updated edition of her 1974 nonfiction book The Planet-Girded Suns: Our Forebears' Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets, which is focused on original research in primary sources of the 17th through early 20th centuries that presents the views prevalent among educted people of that time. In addition she has published three permafree ebook collections of essays.

Between 1957 and 1967 Engdahl was a computer programmer and Computer Systems Specialist for the SAGE Air Defense System. Most recently she has worked as a freelance editor of nonfiction anthologies for high schools. Now retired, she lives in Eugene, Oregon and welcomes visitors to her website at www.sylviaengdahl.com. It includes a large section on space colonization, of which she is a strong advocate, as well as essays on other topics and detailed information about her books. She enjoys receiving email from her readers.