Poul Anderson retells the stories of Hrolf Kraki and of Hadding as heroic fantasies;
Anderson also presents the original of Odin in a historical novel and the original of Theseus in a historical science fiction novel;
in SM Stirling's alternative history novel, Against The Tide Of Years (New York, 1999), we read -
"'Alaksandrus son of Pirusia is a hothead - no better than a pirate, carrying off plunder and women from foreign parts.'
"That fits the legend too, Ian thought. And three thousand years from now a younger Ian Arnstein would read Homer's immortal words, and now -" (Chapter Twenty-Six, p. 416)
Having already realized who Alaksandrus is, we get Ian's point.
The Re-Created Characters
Grallon
Hrolf Kraki
Hadding
Odin
Theseus
Paris
The Genres
historical fiction with elements of fantasy
heroic fantasy
historical fiction
historical science fiction
alternative history fiction
I could conclude with "Pretty smart stuff!" but I have said that too often before.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don' think you've said of the works of Poul Anderson and S.M. Stirling "Pretty smart stuff!" too often. It's merely the simple truth!
By now I think you have copies of ten of Stirling's books: THE PESHAWAR LANCERS, CONQUISTADOR, the two Lords of Creation books, the four Draka books, and now the first two Nantucket books.
Sean
Sean,
You keep better count than I do! - but that sounds right.
Paul.
We are ordering Nantucket Vol III.
Kaor, Paul!
Considering how I persuaded you to experiment with reading Stirling, I take an interest in keeping track of which of his books you.
Sean
Post a Comment