Thursday 30 May 2013

The Turning Point

Three volumes:

the 1973 New American Library novel, The People Of The Wind;
the 1979 Berkley Books collection, The Earth Book Of Stormgate, which refers to The People Of The Wind;
the 2011 Baen Books collection, Rise Of The Terran Empire, which includes The People Of The Wind

- all bring the reader to the same moment in Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, the end of the Terran War on Avalon.

Thus, two historical processes are complete:

the rise, decline and dissolution of the Polesotechnic League;
the rise of the Terran Empire and its growth to its maximum diameter of 400 light years.

Other processes, beginning with the Decline and Fall of the Terran Empire, are still to come. The entire History up to and including the Terran War has set the scene for the longest section of the History, the lifetime of Dominic Flandry, which, before the Baen Books omnibus editions, comprised nine volumes (seven novels and two collections) plus one extra short story.

Flandry is more prominent in his period of the History than either van Rijn or Falkayn were in theirs but nevertheless an entire novel and short story in the Flandry period do not feature Flandry himself and there is an extremely interesting supporting character called Chunderban Desai.

No comments: