Friday 7 October 2022

Persuasion And A Travelogue

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Next, Targovi must persuade the Zacharians to allow him and his companions to visit their island of Zacharia. Demonstrating his by now evident ability to persuade anyone of anything, he argues that Axor's fund of galactic knowledge should be of interest to Zacharian scientists. Diana will also be of interest to Zacharian men - who spread their superior genes throughout the species.

There is a kind of sf that might be described as "future travelogue." I have recently reread A Torrent Of Faces by James Blish and Norman L. Knight which definitely fits this description. In The Game Of Empire, Diana and co. travel:

in Targovi's Moonjumper, from Imhotep to Aurea on Daedalus;
by train, from Aurea to Paz de la Frontera;
by river, from Paz to Lulach;
by flying first class passenger cruiser, from Lulach to Zacharia - for the big showdown.

Thus, they miss Ghundrung, the Donarrian settlement, which is further down the Highroad River with, apparently, some Ancient ruins in the jungle to the south of it. However, Axor will have ample funds and opportunity for his research after the Magnusson Rebellion has been foiled. And we want to know more, of course.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Some readers try to apocryphally fill in some of these gaps by writing fanfictions. Usually, but not always, rather poorly.

Ad astra! Sean