Kemul takes Flandry to the Tavern Called Swampman's Ease on the Canal of the Fiery Snake.
See:
freightboat crewmen
fishers
dockmen
machinists
jungle hunters and loggers
bandits
cutpurses
gamblers
less identifiable individuals
Having imagined a hot, wet planet ruled by a callous oligarchy, Poul Anderson now populates the slums of its capital city.
"Swampman" is a phrase that evokes accidental associations with other works of fiction, like Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. In fact, despite his vegetable origins, Swampy toured extra-solar planets in the DC Universe just as Dominic Flandry tours extra-solar planets in the Technic History universe. See Swamp Thing And The Universe. No comparison is too bizarre or far-fetched for this blog.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
We see many taverns, inns, bars, pubs, etc., in the works of Poui Anderson, ranging from the Old Phoenix to the seedy dive named Swamp Man's Ease. Or more elaborate and far more dubious establishments like that of Leon Ammon's.
I would have listed prostitutes/joy girls among the denizens of Swamp Man's Ease.
And I appreciate you being as far fetched as possible!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Biocontrol was not only a callous oligarchy it was also a comic opera of incompetence and corruption, as Stirling so aptly put it!
And reflections on these comments of yours made me recall the real world oligarchy of the Venetian Republic. For four or five centuries that government was anything but incompetent! Being in fact hated and feared by it neighbors, many of whom were plenty tough themselves and not in the least pushovers.
Ad astra! Sean
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