Wednesday 24 July 2013

Historical Sequence

I apologize to anyone for whom this gets monotonous but I am never quite finished with rethinking how best to package and present Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization History. However, I think that I have made some progress on this issue.

First, I am convinced that eight volumes unequal in length would reflect the content of the History more effectively than the seven volumes of uniform length of Baen Books' nevertheless excellent The Technic Civilization Saga.

Secondly, the titles should as far as possible show the reader how the volumes are connected and that they express a historical sequence. Thus, longer rather than shorter titles would be appropriate so I suggest:

I Rise Of The Polesotechnic League
II Decline Of The Polesotechnic League
III Rise Of The Terran Empire
IV Young Flandry And The Terran Empire
V Outposts Of The Terran Empire
VI Captain Flandry Of The Terran Empire
VII Children Of The Terran Empire
VIII After The Terran Empire

Despite the dominance of the Empire in these proposed titles, it is of course absent from Vol VIII. Also, it shares Vol III with the League. Thus, the Empire is mentioned in six of the eight titles but features in only four and a half of the proposed volumes.

These titles convey a much more impressive historical process than any of the various Foundation or Dune volumes: two historical cycles and the beginning of a third.

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