In The Council Hall

Vault Of The Ages, Chapter 14.

Dalespeople crowd into their Hall for a vitally important Council meeting with their Chief, clergy ("Doctors") and elders:

"This was more than [Carl's] own life. Perhaps the future of the world would be settled today." (p. 135)

Perhaps. Imperceptibly, the future is settled every day but some days are more significant than others, historically speaking.

Before rushing on to consider the content of the meeting, we should pause to notice the description of the Hall. Gods, heroes and animals are carved in oak. We are not told the names or functions of any of the gods. Are the heroes only from since the Doom or also from before it? Would we recognize any of their faces or names? We might be surprised to find that some figures heroic to the Dalespeople had been unheroic to us or vice versa? The carvings would have to be shown in any screen adaptation. 

"...wooden pillars...were graven with leaves and fruits from the Tree of Life." (ibid.)

Which Tree of Life? The Biblical one? Yggdrasil? A composite image? Again, a film would have to present these carvings, not just ignore the author's account. However, at the same time, visual details would have to be created. 

We can read a future history series either in its order of publication or in the chronological order of fictional events. Those who read the series while it is being published can only read it in publication order but later readers have a choice. When we do read the series in its original publication order, we come to instalments that were written later but set earlier. In these cases, we know something of the future of the events about which we are currently reading. In Poul Anderson's Technic History, "The Saturn Game," set earlier than any of the other instalments although written later than most, introduces the Jerusalem Catholic Church although instalments set much later have already featured characters who were described as Jerusalem Catholics. We know, when reading "The Saturn Game," that these characters will include an alien (Wodenite) priest, Axor, even though no aliens have yet been contacted at the time of "The Saturn Game." We develop a historical perspective.

I was reminded of this when visiting Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop earlier today. He and I follow a superhero TV series. Superhero universes can become even more complex than future histories. The universes have different but roughly parallel "continuities" in different media. In any standard continuity, Superman and Lois Lane should eventually get together although it might take a long time. This afternoon, the mention of the construction of a particle accelerator in a particular city reminded us that this will lead to the origin of a new superhero and, beyond that, to the discovery of the multiverse - and, of course, that reminds Poul Anderson's readers that he too has a multiverse which we would like to see on screen.