On Demeter, the Hollowland swamp covers a quarter of tropical Aetolia. Native life had taken hold in sea, littoral and Hollowland and flourished in the swamp where it is now dying off although its decay poisons the water for human beings. Terrestrial plants and animals are genetically designed to thrive although the poisons might linger for another century. When Kyra Davis' teenage son falls into the water, he must not only be pulled out but also injected with antitoxin.
Solar-energized transceivers are bred into some plants and download Guthrie sometimes connects to the bionet. His consciousness, currently in tune with a tree in the swamp, can also flit to sea, coast, mountain, valley, prairie or forest - a precursor of Demeter Mother. We have come so far from the earlier chapters that we might as well be in another novel. A future history can be presented in a single long volume rather than in a multiplicity of short stories published in magazines.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! If he had so wished, Poul Anderson could have cast the material found in HARVEST OF STARS into short stories or short novels. It makes me wonder how different the overall story might have been if Anderson had chosen to do it that way.
Sean
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