One Series And Aliens

In the immediately preceding post, I referred to:

the conflict between the Terran Empire and the Merseian Rodhunate;

centuries of history following that conflict;

seven cosmic events, mainly involving rogue planets and supernovae.

All of this and more is presented in a single sf series, Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization. The first three cosmic events are described in the David Falkayn sub-series, the second three in the Dominic Flandry sub-series and the seventh in the Commonalty proto-series. (A proto-series is a single story that could have become the opening instalment of a series.)

The mere physical presence of an alien might be frightening. I would not welcome close physical proximity with feather-covered Ythrians even though they have mouths instead of beaks. Flandry and Djana are present when two large Merseians, Ydwyr and Morioch, confront each other. Seated on feet and tails, they seem crouched to spring. Their voices are deep and their language, Eriau, explosively guttural. Not understanding their speech, Djana senses anger and sees that Flandry is worried. He understands the words, the forms of address and the markings on Morioch's uniform but not Ydwyr's rank, datholch.

In A Circus of Hells, CHAPTER TWELVE, the opening paragraph is narrated from Djana's viewpoint whereas the second and the rest of the chapter are from Flandry's.