Saturday 20 January 2024

Avalon And History

Reading The Technic Civilization Saga, Volumes I-III (of VII), we find Hloch mentioning Avalon in his first Earth Book introduction and a description of the planet in "The Problem of Pain." Volume III collects:

Mirkheim, the last Polesotechnic League instalment;

"Wingless" and "Rescue on Avalon," about the two-stage colonization of Avalon;

"The Star Plunderer," about the Time of Troubles;

"Sargasso of Lost Starships," about the early Terran Empire;

The People Of The Wind, about the Terran-Ythrian War and in particular about its effects on Avalon.

Thus, a future history in a single volume. By contrast, Volumes IV-VI and the first half of VII are set within the lifetime of a single individual. The Technic History incorporates both fictional history - mainly League and Empire - and fictional biography - mainly Falkayn and Flandry.

Avalon receives more coverage than Hermes or Dennitza. The Technic History also presents the histories of the interactions of both Ythrians and Merseians with Technic civilization.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would speculate that "Wingless" and "Rescue" could be dated shortly before the Time of Troubles started, in the late 2500's, before the decaying Polesotechnic League had completely collapsed. I used my revision of Meisel's Chronology for the dating.

These two stories are rather parochial, even insular, because I don't recall any mention of what was going on in the wider galaxy.

Ad astra! Sean