Although the title, author's name and back cover blurb tell us that this novel is science fiction, the opening chapter, of twenty one, merely hints:
Malcolm Lockridge cannot tell where Storm Darroway is from;
she reminds him of Cretan images of the Goddess;
he cannot place her accent;
he wonders why someone with her appearance has an Anglo-Saxon name;
she uses the unfamiliar, italicized, term "slogg" (p.12);
behind her hair, he sees "...a tiny, transparent button in her left ear." (ibid.)
All of these details will matter later but, by the end of this chapter, we might be reading a contemporary novel. The events described in such novels occur while, in some sf novels, time travelers move among us. The reference to a "...Midwestern springtime..." (p. 8) reminds us of Time Patrolman Manse Everard although, this time, we are not in the Time Patrol timeline.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Another thing to remember is that the repeated references to the mid-West of the US in some of Anderson's stories is an autobiographical touch. After his father's death in Texas Anderson spent much of his youth in the Mid-West.
Sean
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