Thursday 2 May 2013

Twilight World And Maurai

Poul Anderson's Twilight World is two short stories about the restoration of civilization after a nuclear war collected with a newly written longer story about the resumption of space travel, as far as Mars, and a short epilogue set on a colonized Ganymede in the further future.

Anderson's Maurai History is three short stories about the restoration of civilization after a nuclear war followed by one long novel about resumption of space travel as far as the Moon and a shorter novel about time travel to a further future of interstellar travel.

In Twilight World, civilization is restored in the Northern Hemisphere and must incorporate a large mutant population. The Maurai Federation in the Southern Hemisphere is based on new, more organic, applications of science.

In Vault Of The Ages, set long after a nuclear war, scientific knowledge is acquired from a "time vault" whereas, in Shield, also set after a nuclear war, new knowledge is acquired from Martians.

In Twilight World, the remnants of the United States and Canada merge as the North American Union with a Jack and Stripes flag. Hugh Drummond is the viewpoint character of the first story, is mentioned as the first Union President in the second, is the late, great President Drummond with a Martian base named after him in the third and, finally, archaeologists find some of his private correspondence in the fourth. But the main unifying character, active in the second and third stories, is the mental mutant Alaric Wayne who, like James Blish's future genius, Adolph Haertel, designs the spaceship that takes him (and others) to Mars where, like Haertel, they find plants, small animals and oxygen that can be released for use.

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