Secondly, Genesis presents an awesome array of future historical periods:
Christian Brannock as a boy in Alaska;
Brannock as a man on Mercury;
Laurinda Ashcroft;
Mikel Belov;
Brannock as an upload on an extrasolar planet;
Serda and Naia;
artificial intelligence in the Solar System;
the nodes of the galactic brain;
Alpha manifesting as Wayfarer incorporating Brannock;
Kalava;
Gaia incorporating Laurinda;
alternative histories as "emulations;"
speculations about remote cosmic and post-cosmic futures.
If Genesis had been constructed on the Heinlein model, then Brannock, Laurinda etc would each have appeared in one or more separately published short stories before the stories were then collected into several volumes. Anderson's compact writing fits an entire future history into a single volume. And each of the periods is fully realized even though, unlike much earlier sf by Heinlein, Anderson and others, they first appeared in a single novel, not in magazine serials or series.
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
Yes, I too have noticed that "compactness" of writing that Anderson was so skilled at doing. He was able to put an amazing amount even into short novels like THE REBEL WORLDS--and to do so in such a way that it did not seem "forced," "cramped," or "crushed" together.
I remember how I used to regret this "compactness" of Anderson, to wish he had given us more in books such as A CIRCUS OF HELLS. But I eventually realized it was wrong to think like that, that being able to say so much in such relatively brief books as the ones I cited should be admired, not regretted.
Not that Poul Anderson was unable to write long books when he wanted or needed to, far from it! The four volume novel THE KING OF YS (co authored with Mrs. Anderson) and three of the four HARVEST OF STARS books he was able to write long novels. Other examples being THE AVATAR and the three volumes of THE LAST VIKING.
Sean
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