Actions And Reactions

Imagine an alternate reality where the man who gave the world THE JUNGLE BOOK and "Gunga Din" and "The Phantom 'Rickshaw" was a science fiction writer -- generations before Hugo Gernsbeck and AMAZING; before the pulp SF that dominated the thirties; before intellectually prescient ASTOUNDING in the forties and sophisticated literary SF magazines like GALAXY and THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION fifties. Think of it: a world where Rudyard Kipling was a science fiction writer, long before SF as we understand it was invented. Well (you could tell this is where I was going, couldn't you?) actually, he was. And the book you're holding in your hands -- ACTIONS AND REACTIONS -- is a wonderful example of it. It feels a lot like the sort of sophisticated SF -- literary without being precious -- we all remember from the Golden Age of GALAXY and THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION. Imagine that. We live in an alternate universe.