Thursday 10 September 2015

400

400 page views so far today and still most of an hour to go. Who are you all? Could everyone leave a comment, saying who they are, why they are interested in Poul Anderson, anything you like? Does anyone know what the title in the attached image means?

I am still rereading Anderson's The Shield Of Time, finding more in it than ever before. I should soon receive Under The Yoke (Draka, Volume II) by SM Stirling. The blog has diversified slightly by discussing Stirling's works on the ground that Stirling is a worthy successor of Anderson, which also means of course that his works are original and worth reading in their own right. Anderson addressed every sf theme, including alternative histories, but did not develop what I call realistic alternative histories as much as he did future histories, time travel, interstellar travel, historical fiction, fantasy or detective fiction whereas Stirling has specialized in alternative histories to an unbelievable extent.

I am explaining all this mainly for the benefit of any new blog readers, which there must be. Tomorrow, unless too busy with other activities, I will probably post more about The Shield Of Time - although I will also travel to Liverpool for part of the day. Time travel is also discussed here. Thank you for your attention.

11 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Great, 400 page views on September 9! I hope more readers will let themselves be known and that they will offer some comments about Poul Anderson, science fiction, their favorite SF authors, or themselves.

And I'm very curious to know what you might say about S.M. Stirling's UNDER THE YOKE. To avoid saying too much, I will only say it gives us a closer look at life in Draka conquered continental Europe in the years immediately after the conquest. GRIM, to say the least!

It seems Poul Anderson too had read Stirling's Draka books. My copy of UNDER THE YOKE has a blurb from him saying: "It's an exciting, evocative, thought- provoking--but of course horrifying--read!"

I'm currently reading Stirling's latest volume in the Change series: THE DESERT AND THE BLADE. After which I think I want to reread another Anderson book, perhaps A CIRCUS OF HELLS.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
The total at the end of yesterday was 426.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Good! A thousand would be even better! (Smiles)

Sean

John said...

It's Polish and the second word is "journey" Google Translate comes up blank for the first word. Probably as I can't get all the letters and accents right. Is there anything you can copy and paste from the properties of the original image?

Ketlan said...

I believe it's 'The Longest Journey'.

John said...

So it is.

John said...

So it is.

Paul Shackley said...

John,
Thank you. I cannot find the original image.
There is an Anderson work called "The Longest Voyage."
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Greetings Paul and John!

All this makes me wonder if this is a collection of some of Poul Anderson's stories translated into Polish. With "The Longest Voyage"/"The Longest Journey" the title story.

Sean

John said...

I meant The Longest Voyage, which I have yet to read.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, John!

"The Longest Voyage" is very much worth reading. And won a Hugo Prize.

Sean