Everard's Chronology

The question of the order of the Time Patrol stories from Manse Everard's point of view came up again in the combox.

The Shield Of Time ends with Everard and Wanda Tamberly beginning a holiday in early January, 1990. In "Death and the Knight," that holiday is interrupted on 8 March, 1990.

At the beginning of The Shield Of Time, Everard has returned to New York, spring, 1987, from Phoenicia, 950 B.C. ("Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks").

"The Year of the Ransom" ends with Everard and Wanda having dinner on 25 May 1987. In spring 1987, Everard thinks:

"We've had a couple of dates. Then I went off to Phoenicia, and on my time line it's been weeks...and I've returned to the same spring when the two of us were first together in San Francisco."

-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), p. 6.

In "The Year of the Ransom," Everard and Wanda first meet on 30 October, 1986. In "Star of the Sea," Everard and Janne Floris end their relationship in Amsterdam in 1986. He does not know what he will do next although the Patrol always has problems. Also in "Star of the Sea," Everard recalls the events of "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

Thus, the order of these six concluding instalments is:

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth"

"Star of the Sea"

"The Year of the Ransom"

"Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks"

The Shield Of Time

"Death and the Knight"

The earliest four instalments of the series happen in the order in which they were collected in Guardians Of Time. "Gibraltar Falls," written much later, was collected at the mid-point of The Guardians Of Time so that "Delenda Est" would remain the climax. However, "Gibraltar Falls" really belongs after "Delenda Est." Everard is more experienced and interacts with younger Patrol members.