"'...I know just a few obvious facts, such as your being widowed rather than divorced; and you're the daughter of outwayers in Olga Ivanoff Land who, nevertheless, keep in close telecommunication with Christmas Landing; and you're trained in one of the biological professions; and you had several years' hiatus in field work until recently you started again.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Queen of Air and Darkness" IN Anderson, The Queen Of Air And Darkness and other stories (London, 1977), pp. 9-51 AT p. 12.
Bryan Talbot also at least once:
"He's rich, an aristocrat, and an ex-army officer - either a colonel or a major I should think - a veteran of the African Campaign - the third Boar War and the Siege of Mafeking, to be specific.
"He's a high-ranking freemason, a homosexual and the leader of his local hunt, which would be...hmm...Crawley.
"Should I go on?"
-Bryan Talbot, Grandville: Force Majeure (London, 2017), p. 56.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I just love the bit you quoted from Anderson's "The Queen of Air and Darkness." It was so HOLMESIAN! And I remember the sympathy I felt for Dr. Watson's amazement at how much Holmes was able to deduct from a single look at a person. It makes me wonder what Sherlock Holmes would say about ME!
Sean
Sean,
But Doyle wrote like that all the time. I don't think his imitators can sustain it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I think Poul Anderson could have done it, if he had chosen to write a series of mysteries using the methods of Sherlock Holmes. And we see him such Holmesian methods in some of his SF: "The Martian Crown Jewels," and his Hoka story "The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound." And, of course, "The Queen of Air and Darkness"
I don't think you've read any of the mysteries of the late Rex Stout, featuring his massively obese detective Nero Wolfe. The genius or talent of Wolfe lay in being able to solve mysteries by listening to the reports of others, rather than actively seeking out in person clues and evidence. And that was how Nicholas van Rijn solved the problem we see in "The Master Key." So Poul Anderson could try out the methods of different kinds of detectives.
Sean
Sean,
I have read no Wolfe.
Apparently, Stout kept Wolfe the same age during decades of change in the external world? I find that objectionable. Authors can stretch a point with age or play tricks with it, as Fleming does with Bond, but not just ignore it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But if you read enough of the Nero Wolfe mysteries you do see some indication of the passing of time in the stories. And even of Wolfe aging (in the later books). But Rex Stout could probably have developed these points more thoroughly.
Sean
Sean,
I can live with a character seeming to age a bit more slowly than he probably should have done but not if the question of age is simply ignored as in the James Bond films as opposed to the novels.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
An objection I agree with.
Sean
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