Tuesday 3 April 2018

Wind And Dead Leaves

Late at night, I read other kinds of fiction and find parallels with Poul Anderson. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Book Two, "The Dark Knight Triumphant," ends with:

a silent panel showing the Moon above the roof of a building that we realize is Wayne Manor;

a panel showing Bruce Wayne looking out a window with a caption, "The wind rises, tearing dead leaves free";

a silent panel with a flying bat outlined against the Moon above the roof;

Wayne at the window with a caption, "Frogs croak like a cartoon car alarm. Crickets pick up the chorus";

the bat has nearly flown past, the tip of one wing still outlined against the Moon - caption, "A wolf howls";

Wayne at the window - caption, "I know how he feels."

Not all relevant but some of it is: rising wind and dead leaves and maybe we think of Steve Matuchek?

It is nearly midnight. Good night.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I was also reminded of Flandry's melancholy comments to Kit in WE CLAIM THESE STARS of how the Terran nobles shivered when contemplating the approaching fall of the Empire and returning to playing with few dead, bright leaves. Because the Empire would not fall till after their lifetimes.

We also see Aycharaych commenting in Chapter I of WE CLAIM THESE STARS that the Merseian high command had what he thought a naive and touching faith in computerized analyzes predicting the fall of the Empire about 125 years later. Which Aycharaych was inclined to regard with skepticism.

And the great leitmotif of Flandry's life and career was his unbending to do his best to at least postpone that fall of Terra. My view is that his struggles and triumphs might well have extended the lifespan of the Empire by at least a century.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I mainly thought of the wind blowing dead leaves on the streets of Zorkagrad.
Paul.

S.M. Stirling said...

Odd that there are wolves near Gotham!

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Mr Stirling,
I thought that after I had analyzed the sequence, not before. Gotham is a fictional version of New York and the Mansion is outside the city so how close would wolves be to New York?
Paul.

S.M. Stirling said...

There haven't been wolves close to Gotham/NYC for a long time -- centuries. There are -coyotes- close to NYC, but the closest wolves would be in... somewhere along the Canadian border.

Mind you, they're getting closer. Wolves are recolonizing a lot of their former range, bit by bit.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Mr Stirling,
THE DARK KNIGHT was set slightly into a deteriorated future.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

But dead leaves falling from trees or being blown by the wind always reminds me of Flandry's comments in WE CLAIM THESE STARS.

I'm currently rereading THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS, in FLANDRY OF TERRA. And before that I had reread A CIRCUS OF HELLS and AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE. After FLANDRY OF TERRA I fell in a mood to reread some of Stirling's books. His A TAINT IN THE BLOOD is what comes to mind.

Sean