Problems can seem major when we are experiencing them but minor later. Thus, Manson Everard, in "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth":
"'...this is no slight ripple in the time stream. This is a maelstrom abuilding. We've got to damp it out...'" (p. 450)
But later, in "Star Of The Sea":
"'...that was quite a minor eddy in the time stream, easily damped...'" (p. 566)
It is appropriate that "Star..." refers back to "...Odin..." because these are companion works. The latter immediately precedes the former in the Time Patrol sequence. In each, a Time Patroller must play the role of a Norse deity to keep the timeline on track but, otherwise, the stories differ completely.
"Star...", originally published in the omnibus collection, is long enough, 174 pages, to count as a novel although it has never appeared as a single volume. If it did, its cover should show the goddess coming on the rainbow, but also with a Time Patrol timecycle aloft. "...Odin..." is also novel-length, 133 pages, so that the two could be published as a diptych, or as a single longer volume entitled The Gods Of Time.
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
I had thought that in a hypothetical COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON two volumes would suffice for the Time Patrol: THE TIME PATROL and THE SHIELD OF TIME. But, now, I wonder if three would be better: THE TIME PATROL (for the shorter stories), your suggested THE GODS OF TIME, and THE SHIELD OF TIME. Good arguments either way!
Sean
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