Wednesday 9 May 2018

Three Senses On The Winged Cross


I expected at least three senses and was not disappointed:

"The flitter set me off atop the Winged Cross, where Van Rijn keeps what he honestly believes is a modest little penthouse apartment. A summer's dusk softened the mass of lesser buildings that stretched to the horizon and beyond; Venus had wakened in the west and Chicago Integrate was opening multitudinous lights. This high up, only a low machine throb reached my ears. I walked among roses and jasmine to the door."
-Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 273-327 AT pp. 275-276.

Notice that this narrator addresses us while van Rijn is still alive, unlike Hloch or Arinnian writing centuries later. The following installment of the Technic History begins:

"Elfland is the new section of Lunograd."
-Poul Anderson, Satan's World IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 329-598 AT I, p. 329.

Again, present tense. Some texts in the Technic History are historical whereas others are contemporary.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And a skyscraper massive enough for the top to be big enough to have real gardens would impress me. Might the top be at least an acre? Or even more if Old Nick's penthouse is that palatial!

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

There are plenty of buildings that big.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

I can believe that! A skyscraper with a top three or four acres in extent should be enough to satisfy even Old Nick! (Smiles)

Sean