Medieval Science Fiction

Michael Flynn is one of those science-fiction authors who make you realize how little you know (another is Kim Stanley Robinson). The first book of his I read was Eifelheim, where he displayed voluminous knowledge of the High Middle Ages, including their natural philosophy (i.e. science). Since then I've started in on his Firestar series, being almost done with the second book Rogue Star. James recently pointed to an excellent short story by Flynn entitled "Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo" which further demonstrates his knowledge of medieval science.

On his blog Flynn takes on a spectacularly ill-informed website about Christianity's negative impact on science throughout history. It's amazing how people can be so adamant when they obviously know nothing about a subject. There won't be anything new if you have any knowledge of medieval philosophy and science; you can also check out James's website on many of the same issues.