Saturday 10 February 2024

A History In Its Entirety And In Its Details

To reiterate earlier information, The Earth Book Of Stormgate is the fifth Polesotechnic League volume and the second Ythrian volume and a comprehensive synthesis of these two series because its Ythrian editor presents a history of human-Ythrian interactions, including new information about the League. The Earth Book completes the history of the Polesotechnic League, almost completes the history of human-Ythrian interactions and refers to the Terran Empire although not to Dominic Flandry because that individual had not been born yet. Thus, all that remains of the Technic History after the Earth Book is the nine-volume Flandry period, including the last appearance of an Ythrian, and the four post-Flandry/post-Imperial instalments. I have said all this before but each time I hope to have summarized it slightly more clearly. We pull back from any individual instalment to contemplate the Technic History in its entirety, then refocus on the rich details in some particular instalment. Thus, we left The People Of The Wind, which is the first Ythrian volume, at the time when Eyath was mourning Vodan and Rochefort was about to betray Hrill...

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Just a bit puzzled why you are so fascinated by the Ythrians. After all Anderson also gave us flying non-humans on Diomedes, seen in THE MAN WHO COUNTS, which I thought just as interesting as THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I certainly find the Ythrians more interesting than the Diomedeans. The latter are in two novels. The former are in two novels and five stories. Human beings share a planet with Ythrians in a way that I do not think that they would be able to do with Diomedeans.

Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

And, of course, Ythrians give us the EARTH BOOK.

S.M. Stirling said...

I think the Ythrians are more fully thought out than the Diomedians; for example, their supercharger is more ingenious than just getting a planet with super-dense atmosphere. Mind you, I really liked THE MAN WHO COUNTS.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!

Paul: I agree Diomedes would not be a suitable planet for humans to colonize because of things like needing medications simply to enable them to breathe the atmosphere. To say nothing of the environment being so different from Earth's that terrestrial plants could not be grown there in the open. And so on!

Mr. Stirling: I agree Ythrians were more thoroughly thought out than than the Diomedians. I have a special affection for THE MAN WHO COUNTS because of how much we see of Nicholas van Rijn in it!

Ad astra! Sean