Hoka And Draka

While discussing Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's role-playing aliens, the Hokas, I addressed the philosophical question of identity. This question has arisen again while reading SM Stirling's Draka series.

Marya, the serf who is also an OSS agent, reflects that her non-stop performance as a serf is like method acting:

"...creating and living in a persona. She suspected most born-serfs did the same from infancy, less consciously; it was impossible to tell how many retained anything beneath the role, how many became it."
-SM Stirling, The Stone Dogs (New York, 1990), p. 397.

But surely we all live a persona or role from infancy and usually also become it? Any two babies could have been switched at birth. Thus, a man who has been a Christian all his life would instead have been a Hindu all his life, and vice versa. We accept these arbitrarily assigned roles and mistakenly believe that they are actually substantial identities whereas the only reality is that we are malleable social organisms sharing one planet where the borders exist only in our minds - as do many other social conventions, most significantly money.

In Britain, some undercover cops infiltrated the movements (animal rights, environmentalism, Justice for Stephen Lawrence etc). In some cases, the undercover men entered into relationships with female campaigners who then had children by them. When it was revealed that some such undercover police officers had been agent provocateurs, convictions had to be quashed. These men must have been doing what Marya calls "method acting" and might subsequently have encountered difficulty in differentiating between their two identities.

Hokas And The End Of Time

Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time are immortal decadents who can create whatever they want with energy stored by their ancestors millions of years previously. Consequently, their time is spent neither working nor learning but playing their chosen roles and, in this at least, they resemble Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Hokas. Jherek Carnelian does not find himself falling exclusively in love with a woman who has been brought from the nineteenth century but decides to do so and is then applauded by his contemporaries for original thinking.

When Jherek has returned from a visit to the nineteenth century, it takes him a while to appreciate that no one in Victorian London was playing a role. Each was what s/he seemed to be. Anyone who appeared to be old and poor really was old and poor. This would be difficult for an End of Timer to comprehend. Unlike the Hokas, they encounter no practical limitations to the roles in which they have immersed themselves. Instead, they create and inhabit artificial or illusory landscapes and therefore never encounter any contradictions requiring rationalization.

Thus, superior technology enables End of Timers to take Hoka-type role-playing to a higher level. I think that there remains considerable scope for this idea in sf and also that it can be used to comment on our condition which combines material necessities with enacted fictions and pretenses that can be mistaken for realities.

An even busier weekend looms ahead. I do not expect even to look at a computer any time tomorrow.

Ppussjans And Hokas

Ppussjans from Ximba are:

"'...small, slim fellows, cyno-centauroid type; four legs and two arms...'" (Admiralty, p. 56)

Yet another quadrupedal race. How many in Poul Anderson's sf?

Regarding the Hokas, I do not buy intelligent alien teddy bears. On the one hand, the Hoka series is humorous sf. Therefore, its details are not meant to be taken too seriously. On the other hand, I would like to see a more serious treatment of this premise:

"'...my servant...does not consciously believe he's a mysterious East Indian; but his subconscious has gone overboard for the role, and he can easily rationalize anything that conflicts with his wacky assumptions...Hokas are somewhat like small human children, plus having the physical and intellectual capabilities of human adults. It's a formidable combination.'" (p. 58)

But is that not what we are? Protoplasm with an imagination? - that "...Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep."

Repetition

Since I have begun to reread Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Sherlock Holmes pastiche, I considered posting my thoughts on the phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson!" Fortunately, I first searched the blog to check whether I had already done so and found that I had done it twice, first in September 2013 and again in November of that same year. See here.

Both posts have the same title and begin by quoting Anderson's and Dickson's story, yet I had clearly forgotten the September post when I published the November post. This happened at least once before with two nearly identical posts on Starkadian mathematics although a search has located only one such post so the other must have a different title.

I have found the other mathematical post here by searching for "factorial N." So how much of the blog is repetition? Please feel free to search it and let me know!

Genre Stories

When a short story is published in a science fiction magazine, we know that the story is sf. Likewise with a detective magazine etc. However, an sf story published in an sf magazine might also be a detective story whereas I do not think that a detective story in a detective magazine can also be sf? Science fiction has been a more clearly delineated literary ghetto. Isaac Asimov and Larry Niven each pioneered an sf detective series within their respective future histories whereas a futuristic novel would not so easily cohere with a contemporary detective series.

In any case, a text should be self-explanatory. If a story is republished anywhere else, then its genre should be easily discernible, if not from the title, then at least from its opening passage. Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson needed to convey that "The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound" was:

science fiction;
an installment of an already existing series;
humor;
at least in part, a Holmesian pastiche.

They succeeded:

the story was published in Universe Science Fiction and collected in Earthman's Burden;
the title is Holmesian;
the opening sentence communicates humor by parodying a line from Gilbert and Sullivan;
the opening paragraph refers to the Inter-Being League, already familiar from previous Hoka stories, and also to the Interstellar Bureau of Investigation, clearly a detective outfit;
by the middle of the second page, we have learned that our regular hero and the visiting IBI man will visit the Tokan equivalent of England, where we might expect them to meet a Hoka Holmes, especially if we have noticed the cover of Earthman's Burden.

Holmes

How many Holmesian allusions are there in Poul Anderson's works? I will not try to list them all. However, there are major allusions in:

"Time Patrol"
"The Queen of Air and Darkness"
"The Martian Crown Jewels"
"The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound" (with Gordon R Dickson)

"Time Patrol" -

- is premised on an untold case mentioned in one of Conan Doyle's stories;
introduces Manson Everard and the Time Patrol;
cameos Holmes and Watson in a scene shared with Everard.

Thus, Holmes is seen by a time traveler. In the remaining three listed stories, he is imitated by a descendant in an extrasolar colony, by a Martian and by a Hoka. It follows that all these works are science fiction.

Since I plan to reread "...the Misplaced Hound," I here share links to some previous posts, on another blog, about the Holmes canon:

The Structure of a Series: Conan Doyle
The Structure of a Series: Conan Doyle II
The Structure of a Series: Holmes Omnibuses

The Humorous/Serious Fiction Interface

See here and Comments here.

I plan soon to post more on the contents of the NESFA collections before returning to Poul Anderson's Starfarers, then reading more of SM Stirling's Lords of Creation series. However, to post any more right now would cause me to be late for a small local sf fans gathering.

But expect a second post on Anderson's "Eve Times Four" maybe tomorrow.

Monarchy And Freedom

Well, here is a new way to free a people: become their king, then take an indefinite leave of absence, thus obliging them to develop democracy. Georges I and II were in England but did not speak English. In Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976), Charlie Stuart speaks Talyinian but does not stay in Talyina (on the planet New Lemuria). (George I, meaning to say, "I have come for the good of you all," instead said, "I have come for all your goods.")

In both cases, the king's first minister must conduct governmental business on his behalf. Nowadays, the Georges' current successor is the hereditary Head of State whereas the leader of the largest group in the elected Commons is the appointed Head of Government. Thus, Charlie has a precedent and a model for Talinya. He stays there just long enough to establish a bicameral Parliament with financial power in the lower House.

This is a happy ending for the novel but is it also a happy new beginning for Talinya? Only a sequel would tell. Constitutional monarchy is at least preferable to the previous absolute monarchy.

Despite its title and its central character's name, Star Prince Charlie does not present a science fictional version of the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The conclusion:

"Better lo'ed ye canna be.
"Will ye no come back again?" (p. 189)

- is ironic because in our world that song addresses not a distant eternal king but a Pretender who failed and fled.

Alliteration And Humanity

"How grossly ungrateful, no glory goes ever
"To us who do also face anger-swung edges,
"That tales of the deeds may be talked of in towns,
"We careful recorders, we war correspondents..."
- Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson, Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976), p. 154.

Awesome, amazing and astonishing alliteration, even involving internal letters and sounds.

Line 1: 4 g's and 4 r's, including 2 gr's, and 2 s sounds.
Line 2: 5 s sounds and 1 rhyme.
Line 3: 4 t's and 3 s's.
Line 4: 3 w's, including 2 we's, 3 c's, 6 r sounds and 2 s's.

Again, the text transcends humor when Charlie realizes that, "...regardless of biology..." (p. 150),  the comical New Lemurians are intelligent, sensitive, brave and basically decent, therefore are men and women with human rights. As it happens, his interstellar civilization, the Interbeing League, already recognizes this, which is precisely why there is a rule of non-interference that Charlie has been drawn into transgressing - although, as someone asked about Star Trek, if they do not interfere, then how can there be a story?

"In spite of his growing distrust of Dzenko, Charlie had to admire the noble. Calm and self-possessed, he went about his work as if it were routine, not a clash which would decide the fate of the kingdom and his own life or death." (p. 149)

We know that Dzenko's motives are far from disinterested. Thus, some of what I am about to write is not applicable. Nevertheless, in his conduct of the battle, Dzenko sounds like a karma yogi (one who controls thought though action) as described to Arjuna by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:

do your duty;

attend fully to each task, undistracted either by desire for success and praise or by fear of failure and blame;

if you are a theist, then offer each act to God (laborare est orare, to work is to pray), although Buddhists may also practice "working meditation."

One hero of the Roman Republic, summoned by the Senate to lead an army, left his farm, led the army to victory, reported back to the Senate, then returned to his farm. He did not make the mistake of Marius who went disastrously into politics on the strength of having been successful as a general. That Republican hero, whose name I forget, sounds like a Pagan karma yogi.

Meanwhile, back to Star Prince Charlie's predicament, we expect some treachery from Dzenko before the end of the novel. When he has become king, he will no longer need the Prince of the Prophecy.

Alliteration And Air Power

(OK. I wanted to end the month on a round number but it goes against the grain to write new posts and save them for days on end so there will be a few more posts before the end of January.)

"Fearlessly faring and frightful to foes,
"The Prophecy's Prince will prong them on bladepoint.
"Happily goes he to hack them to hash.
"No sweep of his sword but will slay at least five..."

- Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson, Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976), p. 148.

I quote this passage because it is alliterative verse which I had neither read nor heard until I received JRR Tolkien's The Fall Of Arthur (London, 2013) as a Christmas present:

"...the West waning,  a wind rising
"in the waxing East.  The world falters." (p. 32)

(Alliteration: West, waning, wind, waxing, world.)

Can we improve on Anderson's and Dickson's alliterations?

"No sweep of his sword but will slay at least six..."?

or:

"No sweep of his sword but will slay six or sev'n..."?

Immediately after the short verse, a lighter than air air fleet attacks a sea fleet. First, the bombers are so high that they often miss their targets with, in any case, inadequate explosives. Next, they come so low that they are "...in easy range of catapults..." (pp. 148-149). Thus, the easily repulsed "...onslaught was a pleasant diversion..." (p. 149). Yet the dictator who sent the fleet has a slogan, 'Victory through air power'!" (ibid.)

Before that, Charlie had discovered that, on New Lemuria, very easy riddles have been kept religiously and ritualistically secret with the result that the Priests expect him to be stumped by, e. g., "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Thus, he easily passes one of the prophesied tests without needing any extra help or outright fakery. And he is moved by the simple sincerity of the New Lemurians in a passage temporarily transcending humor.

Star Prince Charlie III

This was unexpected. I was persevering with Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976) but it was not holding my attention. I even preferred to return to my struggle with Virgil's Aeneid. No easy task: I thought that the Greeks were offering virgins to the goddess when they were really making offerings to the virgin goddess. Then an old friend arrived unexpectedly for an overnight stay so that I did not get very far with Virgil either.

"Sark" (see earlier post) is a Scottish word for a shirt or similar garment.

Despite its humor, Star Prince Charlie does make serious points about society. Charlie as Prince of the Prophecy is a stooge for an ambitious local ruler but, of course, does not see eye to eye with him. The local, Dzenko, defends the social role and rights of the nobles who:

led against sea rovers and savages;
keep the peace;
manage productive estates;
try cases;
"...conduct olden usage and ceremony which hold society together..." (p. 117);
"...support learning and religion..." (ibid.);
"...deal with foreigners..." (ibid.);
maintain order and progress;
work hard to do all this.

Charlie replies that perhaps the nobility was necessary and can still supply leaders but:

"...we're ready for the common people to have a chance at leadership, too, and freedom in their private lives, and a better break all around." (pp. 117-118)

Weighty matters for a lightweight work.

Star Prince Charlie II

The chapter titles in Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976) are mostly (or all?) familiar:

1. The Innocent Voyage.
2. Stranger In a Strange Land.
3. A Night at an Inn.
4. Kidnapped.
5. The Redheaded League.
6. Songs of Experience: The Tiger.
7. Man and Superman.
8. Soldiers Three.
9. A Midsummer Night's Dream.
10. Wind, Sand, and Stars.
11. The Social Contract.
12. The Return of the Native.
13. Fahrenheit 451.
14. Beat to Quarters.
15. The Prince.
16. The Deep Range.
17. Earthman's Burden.

"The Redheaded League" is title of a Sherlock Holmes short story although I am not sure of its relevance here. The titles Star Prince Charlie and "The Prince" present very different connotations of the word "Prince."

I must consult a dictionary for the meaning of the word "..sark..." as used on p. 111.

Star Prince Charlie

An Interim Report

I am reading this book for the first time. However, unusually for a work by Anderson, I cannot think of much to write about it yet. I would have preferred a historical novel by Anderson about the Jacobite Rebellion rather than yet another Hoka historical reenactment!

Before our young Charlie Stuart can be accepted as a military leader on the planet of New Lemuria, he must pass five tests prescribed by local legend and it remains to be seen how he will pass even the first although, since the novel is a comedy and since there might be a powerful vested interest on his side, we should not be surprised to read about a series of implausible events.

I will read this work to its conclusion although not with a great deal of enthusiasm as yet.

Next

Hello, Poul Anderson fans.

Tomorrow, because of a birthday, I will drive some members of my family to the nearby city of Preston (see image) for the day. Usually, while they shop, I meditate in a church, maybe walk in the park and visit a temple, then read some carefully chosen book in a couple of coffee places.

After recent detours into Ian M Banks (see the Science Fiction blog), Alan Moore (see the Comics Appreciation blog), JRR Tolkien and the Higgs boson (see the previous post), I expect to return to Anderson with his and Gordon R Dickson's Star Prince Charlie, which I have yet to read for the first time. After that, I must scour Anderson collections for any short stories not yet read or not reread recently.

I might also reread some earlier posts on this blog. I remember, for example, finding fascinating details in The Game Of Empire, which I had previously considered a light weight work - and I noticed many of these ingenious details in Anderson's fictitious worlds because I was pausing to post while rereading, not merely rereading at a normal pace.

I do not know what comes next. It is difficult to predict, especially about the future.

Up-Date II

I am still immersed in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series and we are now immersed in preparations for Yule (Dec 21) and Christmas (Dec 25).  

Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976) has arrived by post. Like The Makeshift Rocket, it refers to the royal house of Stuart. Like the Hoka series, it refers to the Interbeing League and its plenipotentiaries and to a place called Bagdadburgh. The cover, the blurb inside the cover, the Prologue and the back cover do not mention Hokas. The blurb does refer to the title character's imaginative tutor and a correspondent has informed me that that tutor will turn out to be a Hoka.

We have previously read about Hokan society but not about a sole individual in another context. Thus, we have here a perfect example of an independent story set against an established futuristic background.

The League guides, educates and develops primitive beings and the Prologue lists reasons why guided development has to be slow:

primitives must not acquire advanced weapons;
natives must not become dependent on an industry that it is beyond their means to sustain;
ancient institutions must not be overthrown too quickly;
every people has the right to choose its own destiny.

I suspect that our hero will be in danger of transgressing some of these principles.

Afterword III

Virgil wrote, "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," (I fear Greeks bringing gifts), in Aeneid, II, 49.

The captain of the first survey ship to Toka is alleged to have said, of the Hoka's reptilian opponents, "'Timeo dracones et dona ferentis'..." (I fear dragons bringing gifts):

- S*ndr* M**s*l, "'The Bear That Walks Like a Man': An Ursinoid Stereotype in Early Interbeing Era Popular Culture" IN Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson, Hoka (New York, 1985), pp. 241-253 AT p. 244.

M**s*l thinks "...it is no accident that the next starship dispatched to Toka was the H.M.S. Draco." (pp. 244-245)

Thus, Sandra Miesel, as she is on our side of the event horizon, neatly links reptilian Tokans to the H.M.S. Draco through a clever Virgilian misquotation.

If I were ever to be assisted by an apprentice blogger, I might set him/her this exercise: edit M**s*l's piece to eliminate political swear words. Thus:

"Although in their contemptible bourgeois fashion Anderson and Dickson attempt to portray Jones as a bumbling simpleton of a hero, it is well known that he was in actuality a cunning arch-villain steeped in reactionary paternalism of the deepest hue. This lackey of the League's ruling caste..." (p. 245)

would have to become something like:

"Although Anderson and Dickson attempt to portray Jones as a bumbling simpleton of a hero, he was in actuality a League apologist who..."

- and even that might not be edited down enough. I edited out "...it is well known that..." because M**s*l needs to cite evidence, not appeal to what (she says) we all know anyway. (Sorry if I sound as if I am taking this too seriously but it is an interesting exercise.)

"Had political development proceeded at its natural pace, a bispeciesist communal society would have inevitably evolved on Toka." (p. 244)

Ideological blindness indeed! In fact, there are three howlers here. First, nothing about society is either inevitable or mechanically predictable and in this case the projected outcome seems highly unlikely. Secondly, political development is not a "natural" process like biology or natural selection. Rational species have stepped out of natural history into social history which is qualitatively different. Everything that they do is "artificial" and interstellar contact is just more of that. Thirdly, political development cannot possibly have a predetermined "pace." It can stagnate for millennia or explode in a week.

"Although the cleansing fire of revolutionary zeal has happily rendered such aberrations obsolete, speciesism in all its loathsomeness did pervade human behavior in the League era." (p. 249)

I think that this just means, "League human beings were speciesist."

- and, of course, this requires elucidation. One example given is "...Tanni Jones plays goddess for the Telks..." (ibid.)

We thought that Tanni was forced into this role and had to be rescued from it but now we know that our informants were contemptibly bourgeois.

M**s*l hints at dark revelations "...when the unexpurgated critical edition of Tanni Jones' diary is finally published." (ibid.)

It is fortunate that M, to abbreviate the name further, seems to be unaware of the illustrations showing Tanni and Hokas with the naked Alex Jr playing Mowgli.

Afterword II

In the Afterword to Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Hoka (New York, 1985), S*ndr* M**s*l describes Rudyard Kipling as "...a jingoistic journalist..." (p. 243). I had thought that the slang term "jingo" became associated with nationalism because of a poem by Kipling and therefore that Sandra Miesel was consciously ironic when she made her alter ego in the Hoka timeline apply the adjective "jingoistic" back onto Kipling himself. This may be so but will require more research for confirmation. A quick google search has disclosed a long history for the term "Jingo" and its use by many other people.

"...the obsessively imitative behavior of the Hokas toward humans is a servile response typical of oppressed peoples. They emulate their vile oppressors in the deluded hope of thereby bettering their own condition." (p. 246)

There is a real point in there somewhere! Ango-Indians, Anglo-Irish, the latter denigrated as "West Britons" by some of their countrymen. A black work colleague once told me that he was "...a field nigger!" (I would not use this word if I were not quoting Negel's own self-description.) He elucidated, "Your house niggers are your cooks and your maids who feel that they are part of the family. Your field niggers are your field workers who want to burn the house down!" Yeah, right. I must assure everyone that he was usually a mild-mannered man who only said this once.

But the Hoka's imitativeness is not of that Anglo or "house" sort, although Miesel has cleverly made this comparison in order to show how M**s*l's ideological approach would misrepresent the beings that the latter claims to represent. If the Hokas had wanted to ingratiate themselves with humanity, then they would have mimicked the life-styles of the plenipotentiary and his wife and would have maintained an obsequious relationship with them. Instead, they imitate every possible historical figure and fictitious character with a thoroughness that causes endless problems for the plenipotentiary and then suddenly switch to following another fashion with bewildering rapidity.

M**s*l says that Alexander Jones:

"...led his first delegation of Hokas to Earth shortly after his appointment as plenipotentiary (the chaotic expedition is described in 'Don Jones')..." (p. 246)

In fact, in "Don Jones," Jones is merely assigned to host a visiting delegation. The story ends:

"'Ah, there, Jones. No hard feelings, I trust? There's something that just occurred to me. How would you like to be a plenipotentiary -?'" (Earthman's Burden, New York, 1979, p. 60)

But, again, Miesel has a point to make. Crucial historical details like the date on which an individual became a plenipotentiary become hotly disputed with opposed interest groups citing contrary sources and arguments. If Jones was not already the plenipotentiary, then why was he in charge of that delegation? - and so on.

Again:

"'Undiplomatic Immunity' boasts of the collaboration by Hoka pawns in human-engineered espionage schemes...'" (p. 247)

Excuse me, surely it was the Hokas who nearly wrecked everything by role-playing espionage to the ludicrous extent of really breaking into other delegations' apartments? But then why should we believe Anderson's and Dickson's highly implausible account? - and so on.

Afterword

Should I read the thirteen-page Afterword to Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Hoka (New York, 1985)? It is written neither by Anderson nor by Dickson but by S*ndr* M**s*l, who is described in a footnote as "Academician of the All-Systems Institute for Historico-Literary Investigations" (p. 241)!

A Publisher's Note introducing the Afterword describes left-wing intellectuals as particularly "dumb" whereas the ones that I know are both intelligent and informed.

However:

as the footnote already quoted should make clear, this is a parody;
I have indeed read some left-wing, in particular Maoist, tracts that were as insulting to the intelligence as M**s*l's:

"We eagerly await that glorious day when fully liberated Hokas assume their rightful place in the classless Union of Beings even now being forged in our own Sector and that will soon and inevitably liberate our entire Galaxy from the capitalist oppressors." (p. 253)

So I will read on... I will be interested to see whether Sandra Miesel, to name the eminent Anderson scholar as opposed to her revolutionary opposite number, combines satire with some discussion of the stories.

For fictional purposes, should we really see the Afterword as fitting into the same timeline as the stories? I would hate to think of Anderson's and Dickson's gentle Interbeing League being replaced by M**s*l's intolerant Union of Beings but we can console ourselves that the claimed inevitability of its Galactic hegemony is mere propaganda!

The Hoka Series As A Whole

The first volume, Earthman's Burden (New York, 1979), is six stories; the second, Hoka (New York, 1985) is four; total ten.

The first story describes Alexander Jones' arrival on the planet Toka as an Ensign. From the third story, he is the plenipotentiary of the Interbeing League to Toka. The second story, written later, fills in the gap by describing a Tokan delegation to Earth and ends with Jones being appointed plenipotentiary.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth stories are a linear sequence of events on Toka. After the sixth story, Jones writes a letter in which he states that, after an important baseball game, he will take a delegation to Earth to apply for an upgrading of Toka's status in the League.

The seventh story, to continue the numbering from the first volume, describes the baseball game. In the eighth, the delegation is on Earth but must surmount an obstacle to its application. The story ends with the obstacle overcome. The ninth story recounts what meanwhile happens to Jones' wife Tanni back on Toka.

The tenth story again starts with Tanni on Toka and recounts some events prior to the ninth story. When the action has again moved forward, Kratch obstruction to the Tokan application delays Jones on Earth while the situation on Toka deteriorates. If Jones does not return, the Tokan situation may become so catastrophic that the upgrading will be prevented and Jones' career ended but, if he is known to have returned, then the Kratch will stop obstructing parliamentary discussion of the Tokan application and have it debated without Jones there to put his case or reply to their objections.

Solution: Jones returns in secret. The story ends with the potential catastrophe averted but we still do not know the outcome of the application although it should be a foregone conclusion since the Kratch have been discredited as the fomentors of the crisis.

Thus:

the series, basically a comedy, becomes darker as it proceeds - the comic figures may be led into tragedy;
more could be told and I am yet to learn whether the novel, Star Prince Charlie, continues this narrative or goes off at a tangent.

Starting To Consider The Hoka Series As A Whole

I have finished reading the second collection of stories in Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Hoka series and can now start to reflect on the series as a whole - although I have yet to read the novel, which should be in the post.

When reading the first collection, Earthman's Burden (New York, 1979), I forgot to remind readers that the song "Sam Hall," of which a few lines are sung on p. 137, provided the name for a revolutionary alias in a Poul Anderson short story and that revolutionaries collectively called the Sam Halls were referred to in his novel, Three Worlds To Conquer.

One Hoka story ended with "THE WORDS": "Elementary, my dear Watson!" (p. 121) and the second collection ends with another famous quotation: "Publish and be damned!" (Hoka, New York, 1985, p. 240). The story states, and google confirms, that the Duke of Wellington commendably gave this advice to a would-be blackmailer. As with the pirates' names in the first volume, we learn a little history by reading the series, although a lot more from Anderson's historical and time travel fiction. I am sure that there is a reference to Colonel Blimp in Hoka although I cannot find it on re-scanning the text. Since Anderson also references Blimp in "Delenda Est" (Time Patrol), this time I googled and learned the history of this cartoon character, including the meaning of his surname.

Previously, I asked rhetorically why I was unable to deduce in advance what further use the authors would make of their superjovian-dwelling character, Brob. Sure enough, Brob makes himself helpful one more time in a way that follows logically from what we have already been told about his personality but that I was completely unable to anticipate.