Saturday 16 January 2016

Dominic Flandry And Eric von Shrakenberg

At age 64, Poul Anderson's Sir Dominic Flandry is a Fleet Admiral and an informal Imperial adviser who speaks his own mind in private:

"One reason the apartment was costly to rent was that it included state-of-the-art antibugging devices. Technicians personally loyal to Flandry made periodic inspections to be sure the system was still working."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 319.

At age 60, SM Stirling's Eric von Shrakenberg is:

"'Senator, possible Archon-to-Be, war hero, Party bigwig, darlin' of the Aerospace Command...'"
-SM Stirling, The Stone Dogs (New York, 1990), p. 267 -

- and able to assure his niece:

"'Don't worry...This place is swept daily by technicians personally loyal to me. It works, or I'd be dead.'" (p. 270)

Flandry is "...still trim and tough..." (Flandry's Legacy, p. 29) at 61 and von Shrakenberg looks "...like a very fit sixty..." (The Stone Dogs, p. 268)

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I know this is trivial, but I don't think Dominic Flandry was only 64 in THE GAME OF EMPIRE. That story says he was "approaching" age 70--which I interpreted to mean at least age 67. Age 64 is still a bit too SOON to be said to be approaching 70.

While Admiral Fenross, rather notoriously, did not like Flandry he was no where as vicious and nasty as Eric von Shrakenberg's bitter enemy Louise Gayner.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Not trivial. Important for consistency. I was merely quoting the Chronology which, of course, can be wrong.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Understood, you were going by Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization, which I have argued contains serious errors.

Sean