Tuesday 18 April 2017

X And Y

We say, "If you read x, then read y."

Examples
x = detective fiction;
y = Poul Anderson's Trygve Yamamura Trilogy.

x = historical fiction;
y = Anderson's The Last Viking Trilogy and two other historical novels.

x = JRR Tolkien's Norse-based fantasies;
y = Anderson's Norse-based fantasies.

x = Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy;
y = Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.

x = HG Wells' The Time Machine;
y = Anderson's Time Patrol series, three time travel novels and one time travel collection.

x = Hal Clement's Mission Of Gravity;
y = Anderson's The Man Who Counts and A Stone In Heaven.

Anderson = comprehensive.

The point is not that y is just like x but that it should be of interest and there are some parallels.

John C. Wright's The Golden Age has "Sophotecs" and an "Earthmind" so it might be similar to Anderson's Harvest of Stars Tetralogy. The quoted reviews mention:

Alfred Bester
Jack Vance
Gene Wolfe
Arthur C. Clarke
Iain Banks
Coleridge
Olaf Stapledon
E.R. Eddison
David Lindsay
Bruce Sterling
Charles Harness
Michael Moorcock
Greg Egan
David Bunch
Felix Gotschalk
Curme Gray
Marvel Comics
The Matrix -

- but not Poul Anderson

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would have included the four volume THE KING OF YS in your mentioning of Anderson's historical novels. Admittedly, it does have some flashes of fantasy, but I still consider a historical novel.

And I'm annoyed the reviewers you cited made no mention of Poul Anderson's and his HARVEST OF STARS books. After all, John Wright himself said he had been partly inspired by Anderson!!!

Sean