The story so far, of pioneer astronomer Johannes Kepler's pioneering science-fiction story "The Dream": The young hero Duracotus has gone with his witch-like mother to a crossroads, the kind of place where witches perform their rites. There she's conjured up a "daimon." Not a demon, exactly. A … [Read more...]
The Daimon, the Witch, and the Moon-Journey – “The Dream” of Johannes Kepler (Part 1)
A not-so-trivial trivia question: who was the astronomer whose mother was tried as a witch? And who blamed his own unpublished science-fiction story--regarded by some as the first science-fiction ever written--for getting her in trouble? Welcome to the wonderful world of the 16th and 17th … [Read more...]