Verne to Varley: Hard SF Evolves

Benford, Gregory. "Verne to Varley: Hard SF Evolves." Science Fiction Studies #95 = 32.1 (March 2005): 163-71.[1]

Quickly covers much in between (see for Robert A. Heinlein), but a key relevant portion of the article is Gregory Benford as a professional astrophysicist and SF author[2] on the bookends, so to speak, of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and John Varley's Steel Beach (1992), especially what Verne got right — including much of From the Earth to the Moon and including therein (with some tweaking) "the brute force method" of a giant cannon "when the rocket was known to him" (pp. 166-69, quotation on p.168).

RDE, finishing, 9Jan22