Historical fiction compared with Science Fiction

It is true that writing a good historical account of things is not only important but good for the reader. I try to do the same myself when approaching similar projects. I just wished, as a multi genre reader to question a wish to include Science Fiction as a sub genre. I like Sci-fi, especially hard sci-fi. That is no recommendation in itself; some people like throw away lit.

• I would draw your attention to names like Sagan, Asimov and Benford. Sure they have more BSc's and Phd's between them than half the population of the USA but that just means that they were really smart. Voyager, of course and the moon missions and Greenhouse gasses and singularities, Black holes and the Oort clouds. Nothing really. Callisthenes, helped Alexanders campaigns and was his personal propagandist. He was sent away by Aristotle (his uncle) for being stupid. Thucydides is now thought to have been a simplist and these are historians.

• I do not mean to disrespect Historians of any sort. Our past is equally as important as our future, in my opinion, as is our social conscience. One cannot exist without the other. When I was young and reading Sagan, Asimov and Benford their thoughts seemed worlds away. Now we do have to worry about greenhouse gasses and slow release carbon Dioxide from the polar ice caps (Sagan) Solar radiation, orbit decay, increases in cancerous cells as we live longer, failing antibiotics. as biological strains gain resistance much as we do (Benford). Asimov, well there is not enough room here for me to talk about computers, the web, robotics, people out of jobs as technology takes their place. Physical enhancement, Prosthetic's, Gene manipulation. Good Science fiction, like science itself is not a throw away. It is a guide to our future. Herodotus, Plutarch and Pliny just told what they saw.