Swedish setting;
fictional treatment of intelligence services;
social issues of freedom and security.
There are also some (very remote) personal connections. Larsson, an anti-fascist journalist, worked with Gerry Gable, Editor of British anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight. My son-in-law, Ketlan, is a colleague of Gable. And, since Poul Anderson once briefly addressed me in a hotel room party at a World SF Con, I can claim to be a minor (very minor) link between them!
That last remark is not meant to be taken seriously! But it does emphasize that, while discussing the texts of novels, we can also remember the real life activities and interactions of the interesting and very different men who wrote them.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I was very interested to find out here you had,even if only briefly, met Poul Anderson. I know not much can be said at a short meeting, but what did you and Anderson talk about? And when and where was this meeting?
Sean
Sean,
We didn't talk! It was at one of the World Cons that have been in Brighton. PA apologized politely when he had to squeeze past me in a crowded room party. That is why I said that this remark was not meant to be taken seriously! If I had been blogging/writing back then, I would certainly have tried to strike up some conversation about topics of interest.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Darn! I had thought you might have talked briefly, say about five minutes, with Poul Anderson. But I fear a crowded room party would not be a good location for any kind of serious conversation. Drat!
Btw, did you see my comments about how Stirling and Anderson used Neanderthals?
Sean
Sean,
Of course I saw your note on Neanderthals and I suspect you are right. On the one hand, two Neanderthal populations, one on Earth, the other on Venus, could develop in different directions. On the other hand, maybe Stirling's narrative reinforces a stereotype of other hominids being subhuman/bestial etc?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I had not thought of that, two Neanderthal populations on Earth and Venus developing in different ways. On the whole, tho, I'm inclined to still believe Neanderthals on Venus could have been handled differently by Stirling, showing them as true humans, not mere "beast men." Maybe, for the purposes of THE SKY PEOPLE, Stirling thought presenting Neanderthals as "subhuman/bestial" was better. I can see that, while still preferring how we see Neanderthals as presented by Anderson in "The Long Remembering."
Sean
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