the four stories about the colonization of the planet Rustum previously collected as Orbit Unlimited;
the four stories about Dan Coffin on Rustum collected in New America;
the Publisher's Note on p. 158 of New America (see here);
"The Queen of Air and Darkness," which is in several collections including New America;
the note on p. 260 of New America (see the above link).
The remaining two items in New America should be collected elsewhere.
The second note begins:
"And so end these chronicles of the folk who took the long road to the stars."
Of course these are not all of Poul Anderson's chronicles of folk traveling to the stars but they are the only ones that fit into this particular future history. Commissioner Svoboda is elderly on Earth in the opening story, some of his great-great-grandchildren are a few years old on Rustum in the last Dan Coffin story and "The Queen of Air and Darkness" is set considerably later when laser communication has been established between several colonized planets.
In the concluding novel about Nicholas van Rijn in Anderson's Technic History, van Rijn says:
"'You take the Long Trail with me!... A universe where all roads lead to roaming. Life never fails us. We fail it, unless we reach out.'"
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT XXI, p. 287.
These characters are all one in Poul Anderson's imagination. The long road is the Long Trail although they are in different histories. Van Rijn's characteristic malapropism or pun, "roaming" for "Rome," recalls Roman civilization which is dealt with in Anderson's historical works and also maybe anticipates the Terran Empire, modeled on the Roman Empire, that will succeed the Solar Commonwealth of van Rijn's period.
One installment of Anderson's Psychotechnic History begins with a quotation from Starward!, a work that chronicles early slower-than-light interstellar colonization. Here again is the long road. The first ship, the Pioneer, will take a hundred and twenty-three years to reach Alpha Centauri...
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I would suggest, in any collecting of Poul Anderson's non fictional essays, that his "Our Many Roads To the Stars" (note the use of "roads"!) be placed after the "Commentary" he wrote for SPACE FOLK. These two pieces naturally supplement each other.
Alas and drat, I never thought of ROME in my previous readings of MIRKHEIM when Nicholas an Rijn talked about "...all roads leaing to ROAMING."
And I like those words by Old Nick: "Life never fails us. We fail it, unless we reach out." There is much food for thought there!
Were there similar sayings in the days of the Empire? Did people ever talk about all roads or ways leading to Archopolis?
And I hope we soon have means of traveling appreciably close to the speed of light! Given that, a ship won't need to take so long to reach Alpha Centauri as the "Pioneer."
Sean
Sean,
And van Rijn, already old, is planning on 5 or 10 years of traveling around in Muddlin' Through, patching the League together while playing poker BEFORE leading an expedition outside known space. The man is unstoppable.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
True! Old Nick wanted to patch up the Polesotechnic League strongly enough that it would stagger along for another 50 or 100 years. Then he planned to spend his final years on a truly LONG exploratory expedition outside known space. To the center of the galaxy? Or one of the Magellanic Clouds?
Given his vast wealth and expansive tastes, that would not be a small or cheap expedition! Old Nick probably took a fully equipped FLEET with him. And stocked with all his favorite foods and drinks. And he most likely recruited a bishop and several chaplains as well. Being a devout Catholic, as we know.
Sean
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