Tuesday 15 August 2023

The Polesotechnic League And Today

Reading Poul Anderson's Technic History in its original order of publication (see here), we think that we have seen the last of Nicholas van Rijn, his trader team and the Polesotechnic League in Volume IV, Mirkheim. The stories, "The Star Plunderer" and "Sargasso of Lost Starships," and the novel, The People of the Wind, are set centuries later. The story, "The Saturn Game," and the opening two stories of The Earth Book of Stormgate, are set centuries earlier. However, the Earth Book then presents:

"How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" about Adzel of the trader team;

"Margin of Profit" and "Esau" about van Rijn;

"The Season of Forgiveness," set on the planet Ivanhoe where we first saw David Falkayn, leader of the trader team;

The Man Who Counts about van Rijn;

"A Little Knowledge" about other League merchants, one of whom mentions van Rijn;

"Day of Burning" about the trader team;

"Lodestar" about van Rijn and the trader team;

"Wingless" about Falkayn's grandson on Avalon;

"Rescue on Avalon" about a later generation on Avalon.

Thus, having seen what we thought was the last of the League, we get it all back again. Thank you, Poul Anderson.

Today has been a mad day in which I have had to:

take possession of a new car;
cope with multiple complications associated with that;
attend a gathering of our extended family for a barbeque;
give apologies for non-attendance at the monthly sf group meeting;
cope with anonymous texts indicating either racist or anti-racist activity - it is not clear which! - outside the mosque on our street.

Please understand if my attention is not fully on the blog today.

(Also intrigued by news from the US about Trump.)

10 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Pay some attention to how the Democrats are desperately trying to cover up the corruption and crimes of "Josip" and his sleazy family!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Sure but this is partisan sniping. If there is corruption in both major parties, as I believe there was in Italy, then it has to be addressed. But meanwhile the multiple charges against one man, and the evidence in the public domain about at least some of these charges, are spectacular.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

You are always going to have "partisan sniping" in any competitive electoral political system. What is infuriating so many people here is how the corrupt and hypocritical Democrats, aided by their media lackeys, keep changing or violating the rules to their advantage. The common perception is that Democrats get a free pass they do anything wrong, but Republicans get the shaft, no matter how trivial the "offense" might be.

I have been reading of how many lawyers (not all friendly to Trump) are not happy with many, even most of the charges against him. They complain that too often those charges are based on strained, warped, and twisted interpretations of the relevant statutes. The charges relating to alleged abuse of classified documents after Trump left office seems to be the most serious.* Others criticize what the hate crazed Democrats are doing as criminalizing mere political opposition to them. Going down that road will end nowhere good!

Ad astra! Sean


*BTW, I don't see anything being done about "Josip's" far more egregious abuse of classified documents from the time he was VP for Obama!

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

As I understand it, other officials who had taken classified documents away with them handed them back when told to do so.

Trump preaches hate all the time. His followers, instigated by him, threaten murder and stormed the Capitol, causing five deaths. This is not mere political opposition to the Democrats. He has yet to present his proof of electoral fraud.

Whether interpretations of statutes are warped or twisted will have to be settled in court.

Trump's continual attacks on prosecutors, witnesses and judges are in a class of their own, interfering with the legal processes. If he loses an election, then it is rigged by "riggers." If he is prosecuted, then it is the biggest witch-hunt of all time and the witch-hunters would come for his followers if he did not self-sacrificingly stand in their way! He is just not a normal person.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Trump was recorded asking someone to "find votes." What he said was incoherent but ended with "I win"!

S.M. Stirling said...

And I don't think this will be very productive either. Where emotions are committed to one side or the other, the ability to reason dispassionately flies out the window.

I'd hate to lose this forum for discussing Poul's work in its many ramifications.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

You made good points. So I will terminate this argument.

As a certain Person once said, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Ad astra! Sean

Anonymous said...


Anderson wrote about many a dictator (aspiring or otherwise), as did Piper, Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov, among the previous generation.

One can easily see the parallels with a second son who inherited more than nine-tenths of the race could hope for and squandered it on ego, narcissism, and hedonism. "Family fortunes start with a sponge and end with a spigot," as has been said, and noblesse oblige generally falls by the wayside with it.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Anonymous!

I don't really understand this comment. The tyrants I've thought of are the ones misruling Russia and China: Putin and Xi.

Ad astra! Sean

Anonymous said...


Oh, okay ...