Sunday 11 March 2018

Inter-Species Interactions

In Poul Anderson's Technic History:

members of different species work at every level in the Polesotechnic League;

some planets are inhabited by two rational species;

some human beings work for Betelgeuseans, others for Merseians;

Dominic Flandry subverts the Scothanian Empire from within and even has intimate relations with its Queen;

human beings and Ythrians work together on Avalon and some adopt each other's life styles;

descendants of immigrants from Merseia elect one of the Houses in the tri-cameral Parliament of the human colony planet, Dennitza;

non-humans can gain citizenship in the Terran Empire and some serve in its armed forces;

inter-species sex is on sale on Irumclaw.

Poul Anderson gives the impression of approaching each issue from every angle. Here he does it with inter-species interactions.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I think Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization series is the only SF "future history" I know of which so convincingly depicts how humans and non humans interact with each other, in both good and bad ways.

Sean