 The novel belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre . It is rooted in hard science fiction , but also incorporates several other genres , including fantasy and horror . Bear called it science fiction " stretched to the nth degree " . He said that in the novel he honors those writers who changed the face of science fiction and fantasy , including William Hope Hodgson and Arthur C. Clarke , and pays homage to Hodgson 's 1912 novel , The Night Land , with which City at the End of Time shares a number of plot elements . 
