Brannock has learned that there are human beings on Earth and must convey this intelligence to Wayfarer but must travel on foot, hiding from Gaia's agents. Can he not simply transmit the information? Yes, if he gets "...within range of his transmitter." (p. 168)
When he meets Kalava, Ilyandi and some crew members and sees that they are black-skinned, he reassures them by displaying on his otherwise blank face an image of what we recognize as the face of a black man from an earlier geological age:
"Though it was black, the features were not quite like anything anyone had seen before, nose broad, lips heavy, eyes round, hair tightly curled." (p. 200)
Ilyandi tells Brannock of divine apparitions issuing mysterious commands like to use watermills instead of slaves. In Kalava's age, the stars are seen "...only when night clouds parted..." (p. 203) Brannock convinces Ilyandi the skythinker that he is from the stars and is therefore to be trusted because he knows:
the constellations;
the ecliptic;
the precession;
the returns of the Great Comet.
Kalava will accompany Brannock to help him in the celestial war.
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Is much said about this "Great Comet" I doubt it would still be Halley's Comet a billion years from now!
Sean
Sean,
There is only the one reference to the Great Comet. As with so many references in GENESIS, the text is telegrammic.
I approach a crux. GENESIS has been and is being great. However, apart from still needing to track down some short stories and one detective novel, I am running out of PA material to blog about. I do not know where I am going next.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Understood, what you said about how much of the text of GENESIS is "telegrammic," or what has also been called Poul Anderson's "compact" method of writing.
Don't forget my "Uncollected Works of Poul Anderson" note. There is still so much of his work, both fictional and non fictional, which has never or seldom been republished. But tracking down these "lost" works of PA is the job of an editor, not a blogger!
I did suggest trying out one or two of the stand alone works of S.M. Stirling, such as either THE PESHAWAR LANCERS or CONQUISTADOR. My view is that Stirling too writes in very much an "Andersonian" mode (while remaining, of course, quite different).
The advantage of reading of first reading a stand alone book by an author is obvious. It gives you a chance of deciding whether that author interests you enough to go on to others of his works without feeling compelled to read an entire series if you did not like the first book.
And Stirling is also a fan of Poul Anderson! From time to time in his works I find a turn of phrase or expression (such as "young lion eyes") taken straight from Anderson's own works. He even has a passing mention of an "Ensign Dominique Flandry" in of his "Change" books. And we both know where THAT came from! (Smiles)
Lastly, I still would suggest there is much to be said about Poul Anderson and his works and thought. Maybe you simply need to take a break from his work by reading and commenting on other writers. That in turn might lead to fresh insights on PA by comparing his works with those of other authors.
Sean
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