The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov;
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
Now, in 2016, I discuss American future histories on a worldwide computer network and these include Asimov's future history which includes The Caves Of Steel. Shortly after buying my first two sf paperbacks, I read "The Game Of Glory" by Poul Anderson in Venture Science Fiction, not yet suspecting either that there was a Dominic Flandry series or that this series was part of another future history.
The Stars My Destination quotes a few lines of "Tom o' Bedlam." I identified with the line:
"Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end"
- and regarded it as summarizing science fiction. The full quatrain reads:
"By a knight of ghosts and shadows
"I summoned am to tourney
"Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end:
"Methinks it is no journey."
I need not tell Poul Anderson fans that the first line is the title of a Dominic Flandry novel but I will add that it is also quoted in yet another future history on p. 901 of The Prince (New York, 2002) by Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling. And that is a very good place to end blogging for the day.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I was interested to find out "a knight of ghosts and shadows" comes from the poem or ballad called "Tom o'Bedlam." I thought Poul Anderson took that from the works of Shakespeare.
I note, with some regret, that the UK edition of A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS has the less colorful title of KNIGHT FLANDRY.
Sean
Sean,
KNIGHT FLANDRY is kind of a clever alternative title because it tells us it is a Flandry novel, it forms a series with ENSIGN FLANDRY and it preserves KNIGHT from A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS - although that title refers to Aycharaych.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I wish I had thought of that, that KNIGHT FLANDRY bookends ENSIGN FLANDRY! And, of course, the "knight" in KNIGHT FLANDRY reminds us Dominic Flandry was a knight of the Terran Empire. I read somewhere that it was for his success in nullifying the threat from Scotha (see "Tiger By The Tail") that Flandry was made a knight. And perhaps received the Order of Manuel?
Sean
Sean,
Flandry is "...a member of the Order of Manuel..." (FLANDRY'S Legacy, p. 30).
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! And that passage of A STONE IN HEAVEN says that some of the citations explaining how Flandry had earned some of the honors conferred on him were still CLASSIFIED.
Sean
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