A.A. Craig

The fourth work collected in The Van Rijn Method is the first Nicholas van Rijn story, "Margin of Profit." Hloch informs his readers that he has taken this story from Tales of the Great Frontier by A. A. Craig. I take this to mean that "Margin of Profit" is to be understood as a work of historical fiction within the Technic History. 

Hloch's Introduction to his last Earth Book story tells us more about Craig:

"For his last chapter, Hloch returns to A. A. Craig's Tales of the Great Frontier. The author was a Terran who traveled widely, gathering material for his historical narratives, during a pause in the Troubles, several lifetimes after the World-Taking."

-Poul Anderson, "Rescue on Avalon" IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 307-322 AT p. 307.

Hloch again summarizes Technic History. The Troubles fell between the Commonwealth/League period and the Terran Empire. (Hloch, living and writing in the Imperial period, knows nothing of the Long Night or the subsequent civilizations.)

 

Although Craig's published works are historical narratives or fictions, the material that he gathered comprises data that could be used by subsequent historians.