Friday 29 May 2015

The Shauns Of Fleetwing

Poul Anderson, Starfarers (New York, 1999).

The crew of the Kith ship, Fleetwing, includes Shauns:

in Chapter 1, Ricardo Nansen rescues his friend, Mike Shaughnessy, on an extrasolar planet;
in Chapter 10, Michael Shaughnessy meets his older great-grandson, Ramil Shauny;
in Chapter 12, old Michael Shaughnessy goes to the planet Feng Huang to die;
in Chapter 17, Ormer Shaun is second mate of Fleetwing;
in Chapter 21, when Fleetwing visits Earth, its crew include Wolden Shaun and his son, Kenri Shaun;
in Chapter 46, when Fleetwing is at the planet Brent its crew includes Vodra Shaun;
in Chapter 51, Ricardo Nansen rescues the surviving crew of the wrecked Fleetwing, including Evar Shaun.

I realized the Shaughnessy-Shauny-Shaun line of descent and Nansen's opening and concluding rescue missions only while listing Shauns. There is always more to be found in Anderson's texts when we look more deeply into them.

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