Friday 26 August 2016

Progress

In Operation Chaos, parallel earths are hypothetical although Steve Matuchek tries to communicate with them.

In Operation Luna, when his daughter, Valeria, has turned fifteen, Steve says:

"Transcosmic expeditions had been mighty few, I recalled. Some had never been seen again."
-Poul Anderson, Operation Luna (New York, 2000), p. 337.

In A Midsummer Tempest, Valeria, an adult, travels between universes, knows how to assess parallel Earths and has found the inter-cosmic inn, the Old Phoenix.

Thus, scientific progress accompanies the growth of the Matuchek family.

I find the pompous talking sword unbelievable. However, if Operation Luna were to be filmed, then its/his shining surface should pulsate and change color in synchronization with his speech. This would be slightly more acceptable that an apparently disembodied voice accompanying an inactive weapon.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I can see why the talking sword, affecting as well the mannerisms of an elderly Edwardian era soldier, can be a serious strain on suspending one's disbelief. But I remember thinking it was amusing. I think you need to keep in mind Poul Anderson was also trying for some HUMOR in OPERATION LUNA.

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul:
There's a Japanese TV cartoon, *The Zero's Familiar* (*Zero no Tsukaima* in Japanese) in which one of the characters is given what turns out to be a talking sword. Part of the sword's guard has a swivel mechanism, apparently for no better reason than to give the impression of a mouth moving whenever the sword speaks. It makes a distinctive clanking noise, too, the first time it opens for any speech.

I find your idea of a pulsating, color-changing glow more elegant, although the cartoon's makers, too, were going for humor.

Paul Shackley said...

David,
Thank you. You are the Archivist of the Blog.
Paul.