Friday 15 July 2016

Blown Off Course; Steering A New Course

The Merman's Children.

The stolen ship has a cabin on the starboard and  larboard sides. During the storm, merpeople who cannot fit onto the ship hang onto lines but some are lost as is the accompanying orca.

Vanimen had intended to cross the Atlantic but the storm drives the ship south to the Gates of Hercules where dolphins advise him that Dalmatia beyond Italy in the Mediterranean might welcome Faerie creatures - whereas the  now damaged ship will never cross the ocean. We remember a Time Patrol mission to "Gibraltar Falls."

We have ordered Island In The Sea Of Time by SM Stirling in order both to appreciate a post-Anderson time travel/alternative history series and to compare it with Anderson's works on these themes. In previous posts, the conclusions drawn were:

Anderson comprehensively covered every aspect of sf, including alternative histories;
Stirling, specializing in alternative histories, has developed this concept further than Anderson.

However, although the past cannot change, our interpretation of it can so we will continue to read and reread without preconceptions.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm VERY interested to know you ordered a copy of S.M. Stirling's ISLAND IN THE STREAM OF TIME. I'll be very interested to know what you think of that book and its two sequels; both in their own right and any possible connections, allusions, analogies you find tying them to the works of Poul Anderson. And, of course, the three volumes of the "Nantucket" series is much more manageable than the far longer DIES THE FIRE timeline.

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Drat and cuss words! I botched up the name of S.M. Stirling's novel. It should be ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME! Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Don't draw attention to errors. Other people might not have noticed them!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I know, but ** I ** would often know they were errors. And they would stick in my mind and bother me if I did not correct them. (Smiles)

Sean