Instalments could be written entirely about the work of Time Patrol Specialists without needing any input from Unattached agents. The nearest approach to this is "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" about Carl Farness interacting with four generations of Goths. However, Unattached Manse Everard, has to tell Farness how to act at the pivotal moment. Specialist Benegal Dass spends a total of decades in the city of Bactra (see
here) and Specialist Janne Floris lives for fifteen uninterrupted years as a member of a Germanic tribe but we read only the briefest summaries of these activities.
In Poul Anderson's Technic History, I want to know more about the lives of people living in the Solar Commonwealth and the Terran Empire. In the Time Patrol series, I want to know more about the lower ranks of the organization and also about people living in periods after the discovery of time travel when the Patrol is able to operate openly from a public office and to advertise vacancies without having to disguise itself as Engineering Studies Co. etc.
Poul Anderson was able only to scratch the surfaces of the multiple worlds that he imagined.
2 comments:
"Leave them wanting more" is a good maxim for entertainers!
The Specialists differ from the Unattached in that the Unattached generally only get called in when something very dangerous is happening.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Re your first sentence: and that is exactly what you do! I've noticed that many of your books end with a loose end or two, precisely to leave room for writing a sequel, if you wanted to.
And Specialists get assigned to tasks which are important but not thought too likely to become unusually dangerous.
Ad astra! Sean
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