Saturday 4 March 2017

English Geography

SM Stirling, The Protector's War (New York, 2006), Chapter Three.

The fugitives:

ride up the M1;
mention a Welcome Break sign;
pass the Aston Martin plant;
enter Newport Pagnell;
cross Tickford Bridge;
enter St Peter and St Paul Church (see image);
enter the Cannon pub;
will travel up the Ouse to the Wash and King's Lynn.

Ten links! And there are probably many more potential links but that is as much as I can manage tonight.

We had a similar travelogue in Poul Anderson's The Corridors Of Time, e.g., here.

7 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

I have an informant who lives in Newport Pagnel, is a Real Ale enthusiast, and does Morris Dancing... 8-).

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Mr Stirling,
My deduction was that you had been on holiday there.
This also explains the earlier reference to Morris Dancing.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

One reason why I read your Nantucket books with PARTICULAR interest was because of how much of the action takes place in my home state of Massachusetts. Albeit on a island, Nantucket, which I've never visited. I live in Essex county, in the north east corner of Massachusetts, and is very different from Nantucket.

Sean

David Birr said...

Mr. Stirling:
Ah, but does he also do the OTHER version, as done by the Lancre Morris Men?

Paul and Sean, that question was a joking reference to Terry Pratchett's *DiscWorld*. The "OTHER Morris" is an autumn ritual, "because of the balance of things."

One of Pratchett's books showed, too, that Lancre-style Morris dancing also functions as a rather deadly martial art, at least against the Fair Folk.

S.M. Stirling said...

Sean: Janet and I have gone to Nantucket nearly every April since we were married in 1988, and stayed at the Jared Coffin House. It's a magical place, tho' it has its drawbacks -- it's excruciatingly expensive, for example. But if it hadn't been ferociously defended it would have been grossly overdeveloped. (One example; 3% of all real-estate transactions go into a fund to by and preserve open space.).

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

Oh, I knew Nantucket has become a painfully expensive place to either live on or visit. And I agree this is not all bad, if it prevents the island from becoming "grossly overdeveloped."

I'm glad you and your lady have pleasant visits to Nantucket!

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

Alas, you not touch on one of my many areas of ignorance. I know too little about the late Terry Pratchett to comment sensibly about his DiscWorld series. But, it's plain you unearthed another SF inside allusion by Stirling!

Sean