Anderson's Time Patrolman contained two new long Time Patrol stories:
"Ivory, And Apes, And Peacocks"
"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth"
- since subsumed into the omnibus collection, The Time Patrol/Time Patrol.
"Ivory..." and "...Odin..." are different kinds of stories. In the former, Manson Everard tracks down the bad guys. In the latter, Carl Farness must struggle with his feelings towards the people he studies.
"Ivory..." is set entirely in Biblical Tyre whereas the sections of "...Odin..." alternate mainly between the fourth and twentieth centuries. This story introduced the practice, continued in The Year Of The Ransom, The Shield Of Time and "Death And The Knight," of dating each new section of narrative.
Although there are no chapter titles, apart from the dates, the opening phrase or sentence of a section often makes clear whether the point of view is that of a Goth or of a time traveler. The Goths live with the seasons and the elements.
372 "Wind gusted out of twilight as the door opened." (p. 333)
1935 "I didn't change clothes till my vehicle brought me across space-time." (p. 341)
300 "The home of Winnithar the Wisentslayer stood on a bluff above the River Vistula." (p. 347)
1980 "After basic training at the Patrol Academy, I returned to Laurie on the same day as I'd left her." (p. 351)
300-302 "Winter descended..." (p. 362)
2319 "I'd flitted uptime to nineteen-thirties New York..." (p. 374)
302-330 "Carl...watched while her kinfolk laid Jorith in the earth..." (p. 379)
1980 "Manse Everard was not the officer who raked me over the coals..." (p. 384)
337 "Throughout that day, battle had raged." (p. 391)
1933 "'Oh, Laurie!'" (p. 395)
337-344 "Tharasmund was in his thirteenth winter when his father Dagobert fell." (ibid.)
1885 "Unlike most Patrol agents...Herbert Ganz had not abandoned his former surroundings." (p. 399)
344-347 "In the same year that Tharasmund returned...Geberic died..." (p. 404)
1934 "I came out of the New York base into the cold and early darkness of December..." (p. 407)
348-366 "Athanaric, king of the West Goths, hated Christ." (p. 409)
1935 "Laurie and I went walking in Central Park. March gusted..." (p. 422)
366-372 "Tharasmund led his men..." (p. 426)
1935 "I had fled home to Laurie." (p. 446)
372 "Night had lately fallen." (p. 450)
1935 "Laurie, Laurie!" (p. 456)
372 "Morning brought rain." (ibid.)
43 "Here and there amidst the ages, the Time Patrol keeps places where its members may rest." (p. 459)
374 "Ermanaric sat alone beneath the stars. Wind whimpered." (p. 463)
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
I esp. remember the section about Ermanaric in AD 374. And his bitter, despairing reflections about how WRONG and mistaken he had been about Tharasmund and his family. Instead of fearing and distrusting them, Ermanaric should have cherished and trusted them. With their aid, the Goths might very well have fended off the inward pushing Huns. This section ended with the now crippled Ermanaric bleakly concluding that the best thing he could do for his eldest son and the Goths was to kill himself and get out of their way.
Sean
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