I was slow to finish reading "Lord Of A Thousand Suns," discouraged by pulpishness. However, as with "Swordsman Of Lost Terra," interesting points emerged from the text. In this case:
science fictional rationales for fantasy ideas;
a science fictional answer to what killed the dinosaurs;
novae;
unified field theory;
how to record, preserve and reactivate a personality;
kinds of fictional immortality.
What's not to like? The Poul Anderson Planet Stories Ebook includes two other stories that I have not yet read. These will be read for any interesting features although not necessarily immediately. I still spend more time rereading known works in the sure and certain hope that new facets will be found within them.
4 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I'm sorry you did not quite like the stories Poul Anderson wrote for PLANET STORIES, largely because of their "pulpish" stereotypes. I could argue that PA wrote those stories when he was a young writer still learning, in many ways, how to write or finding his natural voice as a writer. Also, recall how PA himself came to weary of many of the shop worn tropes found in pulp SF, and deliberately strove to transcend or invert such stereotypes. That "inverting" can be seen quite plainly in both "Tiger by the Tail" and "Captive of the Centaurianess."
In addition, I think you did not quite like the Hoka stories PA co authored with Gordon R. Dickson. Did you think those stories too shallow or thin?
Sean
Sean,
Of course I understand why earlier stories are not as good as later stories. A writer who neither developed nor matured would keep writing the same sort of stuff all his life!
I do not rate Hoka alongside Anderson-only compositions. Nevertheless, I found a lot in the Hoka series when I blogged about it. Not shallow or thin. Light, of course, but then they are meant to be.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Of course I should have realized you understood quite well that young writers who went on to be successful authors usually made some false starts, or came to write differently from what they started at as time passed.
And I should have remembered that you commented at length about Anderson/Dickson's Hoka stories, finding much which gave you thought in them. Yes, the Hoka stories were meant to be light and amusing, even humorous.
Sean
Sean,
No one can remember everything that has happened on this blog. I can't.
Paul.
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