Perspectives

In his Introduction to "Wings of Victory," Hloch addresses his fellow Ythrians about human beings. In "Wings of Victory," human beings land on an extrasolar planet, identify with difficulty that planet's dominant species, then learn that that species calls its home planet Ythri. Thus, here is a total reversal of perspectives.

Hloch lives in a period when Ythrians and human beings have long lived together on the planet Avalon whereas "Wings of Victory" describes human first contact with Ythri, an event that Hloch calls "the Discovery."

"Wings of Victory" was not originally published with Hloch's Introduction but is immensely enhanced by its republication as the opening installment of Hloch's The Earth Book Of Stormgate. This story becomes not only the second installment of a future history series but also the opening chapter of a genuine Ythrian/Avalonian historical text book whose publication is itself a major event in the History.

The Earth Book collects twelve works. The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume I, collects eleven, overlapping by seven, and the remaining five Earth Book installments appear in their proper places in Volumes II and III. Thus, we discern three stages in the growth of the Technic History:

the original magazine publication of the stories;
their collection in several volumes, notably the Earth Book;
their complete collection in the seven volumes of the Saga, retaining Hloch's Introductions from the Earth Book.