Series And Structures

A fictional series can develop an intricate structure. We have exhaustively analyzed Poul Anderson's two main series, the Technic History and the Time Patrol. We also appreciate the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. By contrast, Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm series has all the rhythm of a recurring decimal - but I stopped reading Helm when Lancaster Public Library started to charge £5 for each requested book that they had to borrow from outside the County.

A series becomes a vaster story. A futuristic sf series can become a future history. Each instalment provides a new starting point for its immediate sequel. 

Dominic Flandry and Aycharaych of Chereion

Flandry hears Aycharych's name but learns nothing more yet.

We see Aycharaych before he meets Flandry.

They meet but go their separate ways.

Flandry captures Aycharaych but the Merseians insist on a prisoner exchange.

Flandry neutralizes Aycharaych such that, even in the unlikely event that the Chereionite survives, he will no longer be motivated to work for Merseia.

Tachwyr, Flandry's Merseian opposite number, wonders whether the Chereionite did survive...

This sub-series goes somewhere in each new episode and could have continued.

Manse Everard and his adversaries

Everard and Whitcomb kill the time criminal, Stane.

Everard and Van Sarawak defeat two Neldorians.

Everard recounts his first encounter with Merau Varagan, then later arrests Varagan.

Varagan is at large in a story set earlier.

Everard tracks down Varagan's female clone, Raor, and the other remaining Exaltationists.

Time criminals are only one aspect of temporal chaos which also manifests through a personal causal nexus.

See also:

The Structure Of A Series