Tuesday 2 May 2023

Earth In SATAN'S WORLD

Poul Anderson, Satan's World IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, March 2010), VI, pp. 382-392.

I missed another one. Searching for scenes set on Earth during the Polesotechnic League period, I forgot about this chapter in Satan's World.

When the floating flotilla town of Delfinburg with its minerals-extraction plants, fish-farming submarines and seaweed-processing factories has left Djakarta and entered the Pacific via the Makassar Strait and the Celebes, Nicholas van Rijn, owner of a mansion, a dock and nearly three quarters of the industry in the town, arrives by aircar, persuades the mayor and the captain to make a slight change of course, drills his crew for the Micronesia Cup regatta and directs his company, Solar Spice & Liquors, from an upper-level solarium, assisted by his extraterrestrial chief secretary, a member of a warrior caste who does not fear to speak truth to his employer. There is a reference to the planet Diomedes where van Rijn has been and Flandry, later, will be. 

At this point, the van Rijn and trader team/trade pioneer crew series merge. So far, there have been:

one story about Adzel as a student on Earth;
two about Falkayn before he led the team;
six instalments about van Rijn;
two stories about the team with one cameo by van Rijn;
two about other aspects of the Polesotechnic League.

Now, Adzel and Chee Lan require authorization from van Rijn to rescue Falkayn. Satan's World is the first of three instalments that are equally about van Rijn and the team and it has introduced Delfinburg which reappears in Mirkheim.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That part of SATAN'S WORLD makes me laugh! Esp. the part where we see Old Nick whining about how much work it took to run his company--and being bold by his tigerish non-human secretary that if he didn't want to work he could sell his firm for more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

And also get the work done in half the time if he stopped whining about it.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Ha!!! And that too!

Ad astra! Sean