Demeter, the colonized terrestroid planet in the Pheobean System, has orosaurs, hypersauroids and theroids and an Ionian Gulf littoral.
The Brodersons' Chehalis Enterprises owns most spaceships in the System and, either in its own right or under contract, conducts most off-planet work:
transport
prospecting
mining
manufacturing
exploration
research
Dan and Lis Broderson have an active private life although I will not list all their activities here! (The idea is that readers of this blog read or reread Poul Anderson.)
Able, resourceful and well-informed, Dan is the perfect candidate to play the role of Andersonian hero who will take on and outmaneuver the machinations of the anti-stellar cabal in the World Union government back on Earth.
The revelation of the Others might have kick-started the Troubles although the world order was fragile in any case.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Heroes should be able, competent, resourceful, bold, etc. Characters who have such qualities are what makes stories in almost any genre interesting. No sensible persons wants to read stories about wimps, losers, failures. That's exactly why I detested DEATH OF A SALESMAN, which I read in high school. It was dreary, depressing, boring. Give me, say, BEOWULF any day of the week!
Ad astra! Sean
True, a character worth reading about needs positive qualities.
However, a flaw in a mostly positive character makes the story more interesting. In a classic tragedy the flaw in a mostly admirable character is what makes the tragedy happen. If the hero of the story has to overcome a weakness in his/her own character to bring about a positive outcome that makes the story more worth reading.
I agree with you both. And DEATH OF A SALESMAN was... well, let's say I thought the death was -looooooonnnng- overdue.
Kaor, Jim and Mr. Stirling!
Jim: I agree, and the heroic Beowulf is shown by the poet as having some flaws. But that poet was stressing there was far more to Beowulf than his faults.
Mr. Stirling: Ha! So you too had to read that ghastly play. DEATH OF A SALESMAN is a perfect example of why I dislike so much of what passes for "mainstream" literature.
Ad astra! Sean
Oh, it was short compared to Henry James. James was a very acute writer, who wrote about soporific stuff.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Mercifully, I was never forced to read any of Henry James stuff! If readers have the patience, even long winded Russian novels like Dostoevsky's THE POSSESSED tackles real ideas and themes.
Ad astra! Sean
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