Mythical and fictional merfolk are either bipedal or fishtailed. Bipedal merfolk exist in Poul Anderson's
The Merman's Children and "The Horn of Time the Hunter" and in Poul and Karen Anderson's
The King of Ys. Both kinds of merfolk exist (of course) in the DC Universe where the aquatic superhero, Aquaman, has legs whereas Superman knows the fishtailed Lori Lemaris. Sunken Atlanteans evolved two ways. This makes another parallel with Anderson who presents an alternative Atlantis in
The Dancer from Atlantis as well as two other sunken cities, Ys and Averorn, the latter in
The Merman's Children.These remarks were prompted by rereading Neil Gaiman's description of mermaids which I find that I have quoted before. See here. Despite writing no sf, Gaiman shares several themes with Anderson.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I esp. appreciated the mer people we see in "The Horn of Time the Hunter" because of how Anderson strove to make aquatic humanoids seem possible. But I think Stirling doubted enough TIME had passed on that planet investigated by the Kith for its colonists to evolve into mermen/women.
Ad astra! Sean
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