Brilliant title. "The Rover" is Poul Anderson and some of his characters:
"The same thought must have occurred to the time rover." (p. 241)
Sandra Miesel advises us to:
"Compare [Anderson's] Old Phoenix Inn filled with heroes from everywhen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1974, with the gatherings in Robert A Heinlein's Number Of The Beast, 1980." (p. 246)
I prefer not to!
Miesel writes that Anderson's "...time transit stories...compare favorably with the famous efforts of John Brunner, L Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Ward Moore, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, H Beam Piper, Keith Roberts, and Robert Silverberg." (p. 246)
I disagree. I think that Anderson's time travel works are far superior to any of these. And several of the mentioned writers make a complete mess of time travel paradoxes.
in "Brave To Be a King":
"The climactic procession celebrating the Birthday of Mithras would take longer for a critic to analyze in full than it does for Anderson to describe." (pp. 249-250)
This is probably right. Next, I will reread "Brave To Be A King."
13 comments:
Hi, Paul!
First, i do agree with you on how SUPERIOR Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories are to those of most other SF writers who tried their hand at the difficul, skull cracking idea of time traveling. Second, however, I argue that L. Sprague de Camp's LEST DARKNESS FALL is an admirable work. Atlho since this was a stand alone tour de force it does not compare to the accumulated force of what we get from the ten shorter works and long novel of the Time Patrol series. My view is that Anderson was first deeply impressed by and drew upon de Camp's work, and then SURPASSED it.
One dificulty for Sandra Miesel might have been that at the time she wrote "Of Time and the Rover," she had only the five shorter works we see in the 1981 paperback THE GUARDIANS OF TIME on which to comment. The other five shorter works (some of them a hundred pages or more long!) plus THE SHIELD OF TIME, all of which added enormous depth to the series, were not yet available for her to analyze. Had she written or revised "Of Time and the Rover" in, say,1998, it would certainly be very different!
Sean
Sean,
I agree entirely about LEST DARKNESS FALL and its relationship to the Time Patrol series.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Thanks! And I'm sure you noticed the very interesting title page illustration of Manse Everard and Keith Denison posing as angelic spririts chastizing the King Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus the Great. They were commanding Astyages in the name of Ahura Mazda NOT to kill the infant Cyrus. I was wondering if this intriguing illustration could be scanned into your blog.
Sean
Sean,
I will ask my technical department to look into this suggestion.
Paul.
It is done.
Hi, Paul!
I saw! You have a patient and skilled son in law! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
No, I found the text of the story complete with the illustration on the Internet but we will see if we can scan a clearer image from the book.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!'
Glad you did not mind my suggestion. You have a patient and skilled son in law! (Smiles)
Sean
Hi, Paul!
Hmmmm, I can think of how it might be interesting to comment on the illustrations in some of Poul Anderson's books. A partial listing being EARTHMAN'S BURDEN, HOKA!, CONAN THE REBEL, THE DEMON OF SCATTERY, A STONE IN HEAVEN. To say nothing of how awful some of the jacket and cover illustrations have been (such as the Baen covers for YOUNG FLANDRY, CAPTAIN FLANDRY, and SIR DOMINIC FLANDRY).
Sean
Ok, Sean. that is your next article?
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Not sure how I coud! Wouldn't you need to be an artist yourself to judiciously criticize the art work found in the books I listed above? Humorous in the Hoka books and "subtly erotic" (?) in THE DEMON OF SCATTERY?
Sean
Sean,
Of course you could. we don't need to be a writer to criticize writing.
Paul.
Sean,
Back to Sandra Miesel critiquing the original series: I think that even the original 4 story Time Patrol series was a major contribution, head and shoulders above any other writer's time travel works.
Paul.
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