In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, the Library of Dreams contains every book that was never written. See the image - and there are more.
So here are questions for every reader of this blog:
What unwritten titles can we imagine for Poul Anderson and for other authors discussed here?
What would be an appropriate title for a concluding Time Patrol volume or for a novel about the death of van Rijn, Falkayn or Flandry?
I should not be blogging this late. Good night.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
We know, from Anderson himself, of at least one book he might have written but never got around to actually writing. In his foreword to both the original and revised versions of THE BROKEN SWORD, the author suggested that someday he might write a sequel to that book. Alas, Anderson never wrote that sequel. If he had I don't know what Anderson might have called it. THE FOSTERLING'S SON? RETURN OF THE EVIL SWORD?
Sean
Sean,
Alan Moore wanted to write about the human consequences and repercussions of a murder. Considering Jack the Ripper old hat, he had thought of writing about the Lancaster murderer, Buck Ruxton. So there would have been an Alan Moore graphic novel set in Lancaster with pictures of Dalton Square, the Town Hall, Ashton Memorial and Williamson Park. Then, the Ripper Centenary came around, there were lots of books about the Ripper, he was easy to research and Moore wrote FROM HELL.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood, what you said about Alan Moore. And I perhaps should have mentioned how Dorothy L. Sayers apparently started, or planned to write, a new Lord Peter Wimsey novel called THRONES, DOMINATIONS.
And I have a Jack the Ripper book as well, in which the authoress proposed a solution to the riddle of who the Ripper was: PORTRAIT OF A KILLER, by Patricia Cornwell (2002). She argued in that the Ripper was an artist named Walter Sickett. And by using methods of police investigation unknown in the 1880's, she even found evidence that would have justified intensely investigating Sickett as the murder suspect.
Sean
I would like to have read the Poul Anderson story "Orbit Limited," the title of which I came up with tonight (I wish I could find a cleverer title). You see, I once wrote to Mr. Anderson, back in 1996 or 1997, saying that in one of his collections, he mentioned an ambition to write realistically about a spaceship with oars, and welcomed suggestions, so I was taking that as an invitation. I wrote that I understood that authors could be reluctant to read letters like mine, lest they face calumny and possible litigation if they ever wrote anything resembling a fan's suggestion, so I assured him that I was making a free gift to an author who had given me hundreds of hours of reading pleasure, and considerable food for thought. I suggested that while oars were not likely as a regular means of space propulsion, one could imagine using them to push against orbiting meteoroids in the rings of Saturn, or perhaps some planet of another star, if Saturn's parameters didn't fit the story. One could imagine a situation in which a damaged spaceship did not have quite enough delta vee to reach refuge, but the crew managed to fashion oars from the wreckage, and boost their velocity just enough. He could write the actual story better than I could.
He replied graciously to what he was pleased to call my charming letter, and said that he had considered electromagnetic "oars," but he liked my suggestion of rowing or poling in the rings of Saturn. It was fun to play with ideas like that, he wrote.
By the way, I wrote to him by emailing Dorothy Heydt, who was active in Usenet, to ask if she could give me his address. She declined, but told me that if I sent her the letter, she would be glad to forward it to him, and provided her own address, so that's how we did it.
So far as I know, Anderson never attempted to write such a story, although there just might be something in those papers Sean has mentioned.
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Kaor, Nicholas!
I'm fascinated by these comments of yours, on how you once corresponded with Poul Anderson! I think came across that idea about somehow using oars to propel a space ship. I like both your suggestion and how Anderson responded. He was always most kind and gracious in his replies to my sometimes far too long and argumentative letters.
Btw, I did not how his exact address when I wrote my first letter to him in 1978. I simply addressed it to "Poul Anderson, Orinda, CA" and mailed it (not sure if I included a Zip Code). Apparently, that was sufficient for my letter to reach him!
Regards! Sean
Both,
I write to authors care of their publishers.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That was how I tried sending my first letter to PA. That is, I wrote to some of his publishers asking for his address, with no success. I think one or two responded that they did not have his address. So I eventually sent off my first letter with an incomplete address.
Nowadays, of course, many writers correspond with readers either via emails or blogs. At least those who like getting feed back from their readers.
It is my considered opinion that any editor compiling a COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON should also obtain copies of surviving letters written by him to include in a volume/volumes of letters. Preferably including the letters of the persons Anderson responded to, to provide context and background. Such as the letters written by you, myself, and Nicholas.
Some of my books are collections of letters by men like St. Augustine and JRR Tolkien, and I've thought they seemed oddly "incomplete," like hearing a one sided conversation. Albeit Tolkien's letters were prefaced by comments explaining who he was replying to and/or what his correspondent talked about.
Sean
Sean,
I did not ask the publisher for the author's address. I just wrote to the author c/o the publisher. The publisher would forward the letter unless the author had told them not to.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I was still quite young at the time and did not realize that was the proper procedure!
Sean
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