Friday 25 April 2014

Bite-Size Books? II

Volume IV
"Hiding Place"
"Territory"
"The Trouble Twisters"
"Day of Burning"

- introducing:

the planet Esperance;
Chee Lan;
the trader team (Falkayn, Adzel and Chee Lan working for van Rijn);
Merseia.

Volume V
Satan's World

Volume VI
"The Master Key"
"Esau"
"A Little Knowledge"
"Lodestar"

- introducing:

Babur;
Coya Conlon;
Mirkheim;
reference to the planets Altai, Nuevo Mexico and Nyanza.

(I have explained in previous posts why I would move "Esau" closer to the decline of the League.)

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

I see you thought "Esau" fitted better in the Technic History chronology if placed after "The Master Key," altho I placed it before that story in my revision of Sandra Miesel's Chronology. I'm not sure that was correct, because I would argue that giving Babur and those humans secretly helping in modernizing that planet 30 years for the events we see culminating in MIRKHEIM is less "tight" than the 23 years your dating of it to AD 2478 would be (if you otherwise accepted my version of the Chronology). Last, the earlier dating of "Esau" gives more time for the ominous signs of decline in the Polesotechnic League we started seeing in "Lodestar" to develope in an unforced manner.

I do not in the least object to you disagreeing with my proposed Chronology, however! But what did you, yourself, think of my revision of Miesel's Time Line? Did it fit better with the evidence you can sometimes find in the texts of the stories? If not, what were the mistakes I made?

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
I agree with your criticisms of Miesel's timeline and therefore with your revised Chronology.
I thought of moving "Esau" to a later date only because Hloch, in his Introduction to the story, says that League philosophy and practice were becoming archaic. But I agree that "Esau" could precede "The Master Key."
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Many thanks! I had wondered more than once what you thought of my revision of Sandra Miesel's Chronology. I've also wished Mrs. Miesel herself would comment on my revision. Alas, I know of no non instrusive way of getting into touch with her.

Understood, what you said about Hloch. I would suggest, however, that a historian like him would probably see signs of the Polesotechnic League starting to decline even earlier than "Esau" in 2471 or "The Master Key." The very end of the latter story shows van Rijn expressing anger and concern for his society.

Sean