-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 467-640 AT 6, p. 523.
Observations:
a literal "hell let out" is the plot of James Blish's Black Easter;
I do think that it can be better. (One hopeful sign is that nuclear proliferation has not proceeded at the rate that was feared.)
Commenting on an earlier period, he remarks:
"'...the real guignol was in Rome.'" (ibid.)
"Guignol" is one of those words that some of us read only once, infer a (wrong) idea of its meaning from the context and do not inquire about any further. I was sure that I must have googled it by now but it is not in any previous post on the blog. At last its (unexpected) meaning is revealed. See here.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And in one of Stirling's three Shadowspawn books we see mention of how the far grimmer "Le Theatre du Grand Guignol" of Paris was used by some of the Shadowspawn to prey on ordinary humans.
And I'm not so optimistic it will always be possible to keep nuclear weapons only in the hands of reasonably responsible parties. Pakistan, Iran, North Korea comes to mind: nations with unstable, thuggish, or dangerously erratic regimes.
Sean
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