Reading Orders

A fictional series can be read either in the order in which its installments were originally published or in chronological order of fictitious events if this is different, i.e., if some episodes were written later but set earlier, e.g., Arthur Conan Doyle's The Valley Of Fear, ending as Holmes begins his campaign against Moriarty, was written after "The Final Problem," ending with Moriarty's defeat and death. Those following the stories as they appeared in the Strand magazine had no choice as to reading order. It can make sense first to read a narrative, e.g., of Holmes versus Moriarty, then to be told what had happened earlier.

Recent posts on this blog have accurately described Poul Anderson's The Earth Book Of Stormgate both as the culmination of the first seven volumes of Anderson's seventeen-volume Technic History and as having been fully incorporated into the first two and a half volumes of the seven-volume omnibus The Technic Civilization Saga. This future history series is unique in presenting two alternative reading orders.

Hloch's Earth Book introduction to "Lodestar" assumes knowledge of Mirkheim and his introduction to "Wingless" assumes that its readers have just finished reading "Lodestar" whereas, in the Saga, we instead read, in this order:

Hloch's introduction to "Lodestar";

"Lodestar";

Mirkheim;

Hloch's introduction to "Wingless";

"Wingless."

 

Both orders are acceptable and satisfying.