Any reader may very reasonably retort that giants and elves are unacceptable even in earlier centuries of the Technic History timeline. Such literary sensibility is to be respected. In that case, fantasy and hard sf story lines still coexist but in the Old Phoenix multiverse, not in a single universe.
The issue of continuity between diverse series arises in two contexts. Either a single author writes many works or a single publisher links works by many authors. ERB linked all his series. Michael Moorcock has a Multiverse, as does Poul Anderson even if that terminology is not used.
I quote Alan Moore on this subject first because Moore's writing is beautiful and secondly because it is relevant to how we might envisage relating Anderson's many series to each other:
"...all the comic book stories produced by any given publisher are likely to take place in the same imaginary universe...Try to imagine Dr. Frankenstein kidnapping one of the protagonists of Little Women for his medical experiments, only to find himself subject to the scrutiny of a team-up between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot...
"Imagine for a moment a universe jewelled with alien races ranging from the transcendentally divine to the loathsomely Lovecraftian. Imagine a cosmos where the ancient gods still exist somewhere and where whole dimensions are populated by anthropomorphic funny animals. Where Heaven and Hell are demonstrably real and even accessible, and where angels and demons alike seem to walk the earth with impunity."
-Alan Moore, Saga Of The Swamp Thing (New York, 1987), p. vii.
Yes. Anderson has Sherlock Holmes, some universes full of alien races, others not, ancient gods, Heaven, Hell and demons. If there were to be any more Anderson multiverse stories, then Alan Moore might be a good choice to write some.
20 comments:
Paul:
This was the whole deal with Moore's *League of Extraordinary Gentlemen*, of course. Allan Quatermain working with Mina Harker, Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, and Captain Nemo....
*The Rainbow Affair* by David McDaniel was a 1967 *Man from U.N.C.L.E.* book in which Solo and Kuryakin visit Britain to track down "Johnny Rainbow." While there, they cross paths with -- and sometimes get help from -- Nayland Smith, the Saint, Steed and Mrs. Peel, Miss Marple, Father Brown, and of course Sherlock Holmes ... and I may have missed out on one or two.
Hi, David!
There's also John Dickson Carr's "armchair" detective, Dr. Gideon Fell, whose description in Carr's books reminds me of both G.K. Chesterton and Nero Wolfe.
I still have Carr's books, including the Gideon Fell books, the latter of whom are often funny as well as intellectually stimulating.
Paul: when it comes to comic books I fear my tastes are nowhere as sophisticated as yours. My favorite comics, as a boy, were the Walt Disney comics featuring Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean:
Carr also created Colonel March of Scotland Yard, who ran -- or WAS, all by himself -- the Department of Queer Complaints.
"When they come across something outlandish, which may be a hoax or a joke but, on the other hand, may be a serious crime, they shout for him.... To my certain knowledge, he has investigated a disappearing room, chased a walking corpse, and found an invisible piece of furniture."
-- "The Footprint in the Sky," 1940.
But if Colonel March, Dr. Fell, or any other of Carr's characters appeared in *The Rainbow Affair*, it's slipped my mind (I read the latter some decades ago, and it was very LIGHT entertainment).
David,
Before Moore's League, a comics writer called Roy Thomas had a WWII superhero team, the Young All-Stars, which featured the son of Hugo Danner from Philip Wylie's GLADIATOR, the son of Captain Nemo/Arthur Gordon Pym, a heroine linked to the Greek Furies, the robot from the film METROPOLIS, King Kong's death as a news reel, Japs finding dinosaurs in the Pacific, Frankenstein's Monster, the Spear of Destiny which has magical powers because it pierced Christ's side on the Cross, Moby Dick etc, etc, etc.
Paul.
David,
McDaniel also wrote an UNCLE book which revealed what THRUSH stood for and traced that organization back to a Victorian criminal organization run by an unnamed "Professor." After the Professor's death, his chief lieutenants met in a London hotel and reorganized themselves as THRUSH. Britain is too small. The world is the stage. Crime is not enough. Power is the goal. One of their members, speaking to Solo, refers to 1984.
Paul.
David and Sean,
Sorry, the THRUSH guy was in conversation with Waverley, not Solo.
Paul.
Hi, David!
Alas, I don't think I ever read any of John Dickson Carr's Colonel March stories. Nor have I, I'm sorry to say, read any of his Sir Henry Merrivale tales. I know some fans think the Merrivale tales among Carr's best works.
Thanks for your comments!
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Almost certainly we are meant to think the Victorian professor gone bad who ran a criminal gang had the last name MORIARTY! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
I disagree with your "Almost..."!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Meaning I should have said: "CERTAINLY we are meant to think the Victorian professor gone bad who ran a criminal gang had the last name MORIARTY"? (Smiles)
Sean
Better...
Paul:
Yeah, I knew of the THRUSH/Moriarty connection -- I read several of McDaniel's "U.N.C.L.E." books -- but it slipped my mind to mention it in my first post.
Sean:
*The Department of Queer Complaints* can, alas, be counted as a rare book: when I look for it on Alibris, there are very few copies available, and the lowest price I've seen (just now) was $35. This is for a not-very-thick book in "Fair," not "Like New," condition. Some of the copies in better condition were offered for more than $150.
David,
SM Stirling has shown us what it would be like if the world were conquered by a group determined to enslave everyone else.
Paul.
David,
Moore has Reichenbach in EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Campion Bond refers to his mysterious superior as "M." Mina Harker thinks he means Mycroft but he means Moriarty. The space race is between the French with a cannon and the Brits with Cavorite. When Moriarty has been carried into orbit by Cavorite, Mycroft does become M.
Paul.
David,
What did you think of the new UNCLE film? I mentioned it on the blog.
Paul.
Hi, David!
Hmmm, 150 dollars for good quality copies of DEPARTMENT? That IS a lot for a mystery writer's book!
When I buy books online, I usually use Amazon. That really helped to fill out my collection of Poul Anderson's books. I've been thinking of hunting down some of Carr's Merrivale books.
Sean
Paul:
I don't really keep an eye out for movies these days, and I've no memory of having seen even a trailer for the new U.N.C.L.E. film until you mentioned it. The Wikipedia article seems to make it a prequel to the old TV series, not (or at least, not so much as the new *Star Trek*) a reboot.
Sean:
$150 was at the low end; there were also prices over $200. And the copy I actually saw and handled in one library was MAYBE one inch thick in hardcover, so we're not talking about a 600-page omnibus or anything like that.
Hi, David!
I looked up the books of John Diokson Carr at the "FantasticFiction" website, and the prices for, say, many of the Merrivale stories quite reasonable, in the 8 to 10 dollars range. Of course, these were paperbacks, not hard covers.
I assume the Colonel March books, esp. hardcovers, were rarer and thus more expensive.
Sean
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