Monday 29 February 2016

Substantial Reading

I am continuing to reread Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote In God's Eye first because it has inspired reflections relevant to the blog and secondly because I have become sufficiently involved with the narrative to want to follow it to its conclusion, then maybe
tackle the sequel.

An sf novel gains substance when it is incorporated into a future history series. Spot the odd man out in this list:

an imminent cosmic collision is detected by the inhabitants of the spindizzy-powered planet, He, as it flies between galaxies;

the Ringworld is explored by a Puppeteer, a kzin, a man and a teela;

the Mote System is explored by the warships MacArthur and Lenin from the Second Empire of Man;

the planets Ythri and Gray/Avalon were discovered during the Grand Survey;

the planet Merseia, shielded from supernova radiation by agents of the Polesotechnic League, later became the principal adversary of the Terran Empire;

the planet Satan is exploited by the Solar Spice & Liquors Company;

the planet Mirkheim is exploited by the Supermetals Company until the Baburites go to war over it;

Avalon, jointly colonized by human beings and Ythrians, is attacked by Terran Imperials, including a Cynthian and a Jerusalem Catholic;

a Wodenite Jerusalem Catholic enters the Patrician System just before Admiral Magnusson, a Merseian sleeper, rebels against the Terran Empire;

the Cloud Universe is explored by a Ranger of the Commonalty;

Orbitsville is colonized by human beings from a future Earth.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

This one was easy for me! The Imperial warships "Lenin" and "MacArthur" exploring the Mote system belonged to the SECOND Empire of Man, not the First.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
"First Empire" was a mistake, which I have corrected - thank you - but it was not the point I was trying to draw attention to. An sf novel gains substance if it is part of a future history. In ORBITSVILLE (a single novel which became a trilogy), the Dyson sphere is colonized merely by "human beings from a future Earth" whereas, e.g., the Ringworld was explored by members of different species already introduced in earlier installments of a future history.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Oops! I completely misunderstood the point you were trying to make. I thought you were asking readers to point out an incorrect statement!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
The point that I was trying to make was completely smothered in the plethora of examples that I offered, not all of them obviously relevant.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Understood! I thought you were giving us something like the riddle game played by Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in THE HOBBIT.

Sean