imagining an entire planet in metrical detail;
accounting for parallel evolution;
rationalising Earth-like features by commenting that they must be rare.
Certain details sound familiar:
Earthmen can eat some local foods but not others and need dietary supplements;
weather is hard to predict in a different environment;
global politics have changed back on Earth so that English is not the main language of the expedition.
I am still reading Anderson's introductory story for the first time.
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I ordered a copy of A WORLD NAMED CLEOPATRA and hope to get it within the next five days. The only part of this book I had previously read was its Introduction, in THE MANY WORLDS OF POUL ANDERSON.
I'm also reminded of a similar round robin called MURASAKI, to which Anderson contributed both a story and an essay. And his son in law Greg Bear's contribution alo increases the "Andersonian" influence in that book. This one I do have.
Sean
I read MURASAKI but felt that the course of the overall story was so controlled that the individual authors cannot have had much elbow room.
Spoiler alert for "Cleopatra II".
Post a Comment