Wednesday 11 September 2013

The Moonrakers

In Poul Anderson's "The Moonrakers" (Beyond The Beyond, London, 1973), Mars, colonized and terraformed, handles most Solar merchant shipping. The asteroids, colonized and hollowed out with barbaric opulence, have broken free from Mars, prey on Martian ships and sell to the Incorporated State on Earth.

The terraforming of Mars was financed by "the Great Swindle." (p. 143) I will have to reread the rest of the story but what I remember from before is that this "Swindle" was never explained, thus, I thought, implying that this story is a sequel to another. I will be interested if any blog reader can comment?

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Hmmm, off the top of my head, "the Great Swindle" mentioned in "The Moonrakers" might refer to "The Innocent Arrival," to be found in THE UNICORN TRADE and first pub. in GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, July 1958 as "The Innocent at Large." About how a Mars colony starved for the capital needed for terraforming/development found the means for doing so. If you have not read the story yet, I don't want to say too much!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
What? So "The Moonrakers" is a sequel! And I have THE UNICORN TRADE so I can read the prequel! (That means there is only one non-series story in BEYOND THE BEYOND.)
Thank you,
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Anytime, Paul!

Sean