Thursday 25 June 2015

Approaching Completion

(Another historic building is to be visited today.)

I have now discussed every Poul Anderson work in my possession, several of them more than once. With the passage of time, it is possible to reread a novel and to discuss it afresh - but more time has to elapse.

Two or three NESFA collections remain to be acquired but, on past form, are unlikely to contain many unfamiliar works. Also, the unfamiliar works tend to be less interesting. It is a safe bet that the the best of Poul Anderson has already been collected.

I am a big fan of good time travel fiction and regard Anderson as Wells' main successor in this respect - also a vast improvement on Twain. The NESFA collections have yielded two time travel stories:

"My Object All Sublime" contributes nothing new to the concept;
"The Barrier Moment" presents a clever but, by its nature, limited philosophical application of the concept.

Laters.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I do see your point here about "reaching completion" in how you discuss the works of Poul Anderson. But, recall my "The Uncollected Works of Poul Anderson" article, esp. the list I compiled. Except for a few stories/essays later republished in now hard to find anthologies or incorporated as parts of other books, these stories and articles have never been republished. I'm sure many of these stories and articles will be very interesting to read!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
...if we can find them!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Indeed! And one of the tasks of the editors in charge of any COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON will be to track down and obtain copies of these "lost" works of PA. Even my little "Uncollected" essay might be of some use to these editors.

Sean