Wednesday 15 April 2015

"Eve Times Four" II

Poul Anderson's "Eve Times Four" in NESFA Vol 3:

is yet another Holmesian story ("Time Patrol" and "The Martian Crown Jewels" are in NESFA Vol 1 and "The Queen of Air and Darkness" is the title story of NESFA Vol 2);

makes the interesting point that, on a planet with longer days and nights, organisms active at night and those active by day will be more specialized and differentiated;

presents clues that we, or at least I, did not recognize as such (e.g., why is planetary rotation so slow when there is no large satellite to retard it?);

presents an odd mixture of castaways - one young man, three young women, one older woman, two extraterrestrial quadrupeds of different species - but then explains the oddity;

nevertheless, remains an example of a kind of rather flippant humor that does not appeal to me.

NESFA Vol 1 contains the three Wing Alak stories.

NESFA Vols 1-3 contain the first three Time Patrol stories although these are collected in Time Patrol.

NESFA Vols 2-3 contain the first two of the three Gunnar Heim stories although these are collected with the third in The Star Fox.
 
NESFA Vol 2 contains two Flying Mountains stories and Vol 3 has another two although these are all collected in Tales of the Flying Mountains.

The second Rustum story is in NESFA Vol 2 and the first is in NESFA Vol 3 although these are collected in Orbit Unlimited.

6 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

If you find the humor in "Eve Times Four" too flippant for your taste, what kind of humor would satisfy you more? The biting satire found in Jonathan Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS or Evelyn Waugh's BLACK MISCHIEF?

And how would you rate the humor found in Anderson/Dickson's Hoka stories? Or Anderson's "A Bicycle Built For Brew"?

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Waugh can be amusing although I have not read BLACK MISCHIEF. Swift's satire is good but not really humorous? I felt the same way about "A Bicycle Built For Brew" as about "Eve Times Four." Hoka I discussed a lot earlier. Some amusing situations certainly.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Meaning you think the satires Swift wrote were too bitter to be really funny? I can see that. And I think Waugh's BLACK MISCHIEF genuinely funny and well worth reading.

I would like to bring two American satirists to your attention: Tom Wolf and Christopher Buckley. For example, Buckley's LITTLE GREEN MEN, focusing as it does on "UFOology," is both hilariously funny and at least tangentially related to SF.

I fear tastes differ! I did and do like the Hoka stories and "A Bicycle Built For Brew."

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Ave Sean,
Yes, Swift can be quite harrowing.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Such as Swift's notorious "A Modest Proposal."

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Saluton,
Very much so.
Paul.