Saturday 16 February 2013

Three Worlds To Conquer

I am starting to reread Three Worlds To Conquer (London, 1966) by Poul Anderson. My copy is a Mayflower-Dell paperback that cost three shillings and six pence. I have not found its cover on the Internet.

p. 1, an extract;
p. 2, titles of two other Mayflower-Dell paperbacks by Anderson;
p. 3, title page;
p. 4, publishing details;
p. 5, dedication to Gordon Dickson;
p. 6, blank;
pp. 7-142, the novel;
pp. 143-144, other books published by Mayflower-Dell.

Page 7 establishes that the novel features interplanetary but not interstellar travel. Glimpsing the stars while approaching Ganymede, the viewpoint character thinks:

"...I'd like to know what's out yonder. But he wouldn't live that long. And it didn't matter. There was sufficient mystery in the Solar System for a lot of human lifetimes yet..." (p. 7)
 
It is also soon established that a dictatorship has just been overthrown back in the United States so that Anderson's characters are in a similar situation to Robert Heinlein's at the end of his Revolt In 2100. We are about to read about the effects of Terrestrial politics in the Outer Solar System. Since I have previously read this novel perhaps once decades ago, I must read on to learn more...

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