Sunday 4 June 2017

Themes And Series

To revisit a recent post, an existing series can be extended within a themed anthology either by its creator or by another author. Thus:

Poul Anderson contributed to an Asimov-themed anthology by adding to Asimov's Robots series;

several other writers contributed to that anthology by adding to later periods of Asimov's future history and to one or two other series;

Anderson both contributed to a Knights Templar themed anthology and added to his Time Patrol series by having a Time Patrolman infiltrate the Knights;

several authors, including SM Stirling, contributed to an Anderson-themed anthology by adding to different Anderson series;

Stirling contributed to an alternative histories anthology by adding to his Angrezi Raj alternative history;

Stirling contributed to a retro-Mars anthology by revisiting the terraformed Mars of his "Lords of Creation" alternative history;

Matthew Hughes contributed to that retro-Mars anthology by adding to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles;

Isaac Asimov both contributed to a Batman anthology and added to his Black Widowers series by having the Black Widowers invite Bruce Wayne to dinner;

several authors, including Stirling, contributed new stories to a Barsoom anthology.

And I am always more interested in particular additions to existing series than in the themed anthologies as such.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have a copy of FOUNDATION'S FRIENDS, the volume of stories pub. in 1989 to commemorate Asimov's 50th anniversary as an SF writer. I had hoped something similar would be pub. in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of PA's SF career. Alas, it did not happen. But I'm glad we finally got the MULTIVERSE collection to honor Anderson. And I esp. enjoyed Stirling's Time Patrol pastiche, on the theme of what might have happened if the Sarajevo assassination had been prevented.

I do want to find Stirling's Angrezi Raj and Lords of Creation short stories.

Sean