Between Books

Today I have been otherwise engaged. I have finished rereading Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings and have not yet received SM Stirling's The Stone Dogs. As noted here, I am rereading certain passages of Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers (New York, 2002) in search of a reference to Krishna.

I note Stirling's rich vocabulary, e.g.:

"...the shade [the trees] cast was densely umbrageous..."
-Chapter Seven, p. 109.

I have read this novel twice before but do not remember noticing this word. But I do remember that I had to stop googling unfamiliar terminology because that was interfering with reading the text.

I also notice a slight contradiction? Narayan Singh tells his father, Ranjit, that Athelstane King is well, then whispers:

"And he is with me, disguised..." (p. 112)

At the bottom of the following page, Ranjit responds:

"'I will say that two friends of yours have come to visit...'" (p. 113)

King and Narayan are indeed accompanied by one other man but Narayan had not yet told Ranjit that.

It is a pleasure to reread this novel, a summit of alternative history fiction.