"...were a noticeable part of the field a generation ago."
-Poul Anderson, Afterword IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume I (Riverdale, NY, October 2017), pp. 229-231 AT p. 231.
When The Polesotechnic League became The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 1, in 2017, this Afterword was reprinted (see above) but there was now also a Preface which states that:
"... Poul Anderson's The Psychotechnic League remain[s] as entertaining as when the stories were first published more than a half-century ago."
-David Afsharirad, Preface, pp. 1-2 AT p. 2.
From "a generation" to "more than a half-century." I bought both these editions but was not reading when the earliest stories were originally published. In fact, I was born in 1949 when Astounding published "Entity." Now Afsharirad's Preface is six years in the past.
The dates become even more significant when we remember that the four stories in Volume 1 are set in "the future":
"Marius" in 1964
"Un-Man" in 2004
"The Sensitive Man" in 2009
"The Big Rain" in 2051
This is quite a ride through time.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I disagree a little bit with David Afsharirad (is that an Iranian name?). I did not find all of the Psychotechnic stories as entertaining as I do most of Anderson's works. Largely because some of them show the flaws of a writer who was still a beginner at the times he wrote them.
Ad astra! Sean
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