Thursday, 8 March 2018

Four Histories

My copy of The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 2, arrived. That is quite a cover.

It is good to have:

the Time Patrol series complete in 2 volumes;

the Psychotechnic History complete in 3 volumes;

the Technic History complete in 7 volumes -

- although I think that the Psychotechnic History could have been fitted into 2 volumes.

I have also seen a cover for The King Of Ys by Poul and Karen Anderson complete in 1 volume. If that were still in print, then these four major Andersonian series would be complete in 13 volumes.

All four series are about history:

Ys, a major turning point in the past;
Time Patrol, many periods and turning points in the past and some information about a future;
Psychotechnic and Technic, many periods and turning points in two further futures.

One of the Nine Witch-Queens of Ys senses the interstellar spaces. See here. In the three futures, human beings cross interplanetary and interstellar spaces and, e.g., colonize Venus.

In the Time Patrol series:

in the twenty fourth century, a Dutch-Indonesian-Venerian is recruited into the Patrol;
in the thirtieth century, when Rozher Schtein's family has been killed in a Venerian raid, he steals a time machine and tries to change history, starting in post-Roman Britain.

In the Psychotechnic History:

while Venus is being terraformed, a UN agent overthrows a Venerian dictatorship;
later, the kilt-wearing, clan-based society on Venus includes a Lucifer Clan.

In the Technic History:

Venus is incompletely terraformed;
a Venerian slum is called Sub-Lucifer.

My advice: read them all.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I hope the third volume of THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE (INSTITUTE, darn it!) will include the never before collected Psychotechnic stories "The Acolytes," and "The Green Thumb." Because otherwise this reprinting won't truly be complete!

I used to have THE KING OF YS in the original four paperback volumes, but I replaced them with the SF Book Club two volume (two books per volume) edition.

Interesting that one of the Nine Queens of Ys has some idea of interstellar vastness.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I understand that we are assured that THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC... is indeed complete.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I sure hope "The Green Thumb" and "The Acolytes" will be in the third Psychotechnic volume.

Sean