My favourite two themes in sf are time travel and future histories. Amazingly, Poul Anderson wrote both the Time Patrol series and the History of Technic Civilization.
A future history is about the passage of time for societies and civilizations whereas time travel is about the fascinating idea that we might first study a historical period, then experience it, as Carl Farness does in "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."
Later instalments of a future history series build on and add to earlier instalments. For how Methuselah's Children does this in Robert Heinlein's Future History, see here. Poul Anderson's A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows builds on:
the Taurian Sector;
Merseia;
Ythri;
Avalon;
Esperance;
Diomedes;
Nicholas van Rijn;
the Falkayn name;
Persis d'Io;
Chunderban Desai;
the McCormac Rebellion;
Aeneas;
Talwin;
Aycharaych;
Chereion -
- and adds:
Dennitza;
the Molitor dynasty.
Thus, A Knight... is firmly based in a complex history and also significantly advances that history, as do subsequent volumes.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I try to find something to say about your blog pieces, but this one is so comprehensive that it's difficult to find anything to say. All I can think of, oddly, is that Flandry wondered, during his conversation with Desai, just HOW Emperor Josip died, was he poisoned or not?
Sean
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