"How ironic that this ship of fools bears the name of Verdea (scroll down), the first Lunarian poet." (p. 147) (Scroll down.)
Heinlein's Rhysling sang "The Green Hills of Earth." Verdea wrote a poem containing the line, "The stars are also fire." Nicol's great works are still ahead of him.
Verdea and Venator appear in Poul Anderson's The Stars Are Also Fire. Download Venator travels in Verdea in Harvest The Fire. Nicol is unique to Harvest The Fire, the only volume of this future history that does not feature any version of Anson Guthrie, whether original, downloaded or resurrected.
We have perhaps reached the end of this rereading of the Harvest of Stars future history but have certainly not exhausted its content or significance.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And your comments about Nicol reminded me of how THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS an artist who might also have been a "poet of space." Chapter X of that novel has Nias Warouw saying to his captive Dominic Flandry: "...what is your opinion of the Terran poet L. de le Roi? I have gotten a few of his tapes from the Betelgeuseans, and while of course a great many nuances must escape me--" And that is all we are told about this poet. When did he live? Was he a contemporary of Flandry or lived in his past? What did he sing about in his poems? We don't know!
Sean
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