Monday 26 December 2022

The Earth Book

The front cover blurb on my copy of Poul Anderson's The Earth Book of Stormgate proclaims that this volume "Spans, illuminates and completes the magnificent future history of the Polesotechnic League." It does. In the earlier novel, Mirkheim, the Baburites seized Mirkheim so Nicholas van Rijn reassembled his trader team of Hermetian David Falkayn, Wodenite Adzel and Cynthian Chee Lan. The Baburite navy included disaffected Merseians. Falkayn was married to van Rijn's granddaughter, Coya Conyon, and, on one occasion, reminisced about an Ythrian in flight.

Of the twelve works collected in the Earth Book:

five recount human-Ythrian interactions;
two introduce van Rijn;
two refer to Cynthia;
one introduces Adzel;
one introduces the Baburites;
one describes the trader team mission to Merseia and explains Merseian disaffection;
one explains how Falkayn discovered Mirkheim and got together with Coya.

There is more but that is all that I am up for this morning!

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Another story, "The Season of Forgiveness," again shows us Ivanhoe. And "A Little Knowledge," shows us both a very interesting planet, Trillia, we see only once and troubles beginning to subvert Technic civilization.

Happy New Year! Sean