We are told that Dan Brodersen:
owns Chehalis Enterprises;
"'...is a free-swinging capitalist, therefore overly suspicious of the government, perhaps of the Union itself.'"
That is enough to alert us that Brodersen will be our hero and that his suspicions will be fully justified. We know where we stand.
Poul Anderson, including the later Anderson, is preferable to the later Heinlein. Somewhere in the latter's long conversational novels, and I am not going to dig out the references:
a hit and run thief is described as a free-lance socialist;
socialism itself is called a disease;
revisionist historians are referred to dismissively without any indication of who they are or what they have said.
We value, in Anderson's works, reasoned discussion of the issues addressed.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think Anderson would call socialism a disease, despite EMPHATICALLY rejecting it as unworkable. Rather, in his essays or stories he would explain why, in a reasoned way, it's impossible for socialism to work. One example of such a story being Anderson's "The High Ones."
I used to think THE AVATAR and WAR OF THE GODS were among Anderson's very few weaker books. Mostly because I thought the "avatar" of the first book simply not quit believable and because I thought the latter was too obviously derived from the Eddaic legends of Scandinavia. However, after I read these books a second time I came to have a higher opinion of them.
Even Anderson's "weaker" books are always well written and compellingly interesting.
Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I did enjoy reading AVATAR, but I wouldn’t call it one of Anderson’s better books. I don’t much care for the way the characters play musical beds, for example, and since I do like TAU ZERO, that’s an objection to the way they do, not moral indignation over anyone having sex outside of a lifetime marriage. (Smile)
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Nicholas!
I do recall the "musical beds" side plot to be seen in THE AVATAR. But my chief objection or criticism of the book was how the "avatar" (I can't recall her name) was simply too implausible, at least at first, to be believable.
And TAU ZERO is classic hard science fiction!
Regards! Sean
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