When I start to summarize Poul Anderson's Technic History, I can't stop because the events are so interconnected that I want to show their completeness.
The decline of the League, hastened by war for possession of Mirkheim, leads, through the Time of Troubles, to the founding of the Terran Empire which in turn leads to:
Imperial war against Ythri and Avalon;
conflict between the Empire and Merseia;
later, an Ythrian Avalonian spying for both Ythri and Terra and sabotaging a Merseian anti-Imperial plot.
Since David Falkayn:
led the trader team that saved Merseia from the effects of a supernova;
discovered Mirkheim;
founded Supermetals which, by exploiting the wealth of Mirkheim, made Technic civilization and its enemies aware of the existence of an undisclosed source of such wealth;
founded the colony on Avalon -
- we see that his contributions to Technic History, not all of them listed here, are immense.
19 comments:
"...contributions to Technic History, not all of them listed here, are immense."
IMHO, these are by (literary/dramatic) necessity, because we wouldn't be discussing them if they were "piddly, little, s***".
-kh
Keith,
there are good stories about littler characters, though, e.g., the two juvenile short stories set on Avalon.
Paul.
True, though these were meaningful things to the characters...
There's a TV program my wife and I watch which ids a "dramedy" where very little of major consequence happens to the main characters, but they nevertreless inspire a great deal of empathy because they are so relatable and what happens (while very insignificant in the grand scheme of things) is portrayed very realistically....
My point: I enjoy PA's SF because of those places he takes me to- I want to see those worlds and meet those aliens and human societies. As far as his main characters: not so much.
So many of his characters are these tall (6 ft+), confident, all -American (even though they're not) "guys' guys" doing "serious stuff". I don't know or have much in common with people like these. I think I'd rather "hang" with Chee Lan- she sounds very irreverent and sarcastic.I think Adzel would be a very nice, loyal friend. As mentioned before, I'd like to attend Old Nick's parties, but probably wouldn't really want to work for him.
I'd like to get Flandry a bit drunk and hear him tell stories and voice opinions- see him when the mask comes off. David F. seems like a well-meaning, "frat-boy" type who tries hard.
What/who do YOU like?
-kh
Kaor, Paul and Keith!
Paul: There's also "A Little Knowledge," a story focusing on a "little" that also touches on larger ideas.
Keith: I think you are missing a point I tried to make in another combox. These tall, confident, all-American heroes, so called, such as Flandry, HAVE to be able and decisive if Anderson is going to write interesting stories featuring them. No one in his right mind will WANT to read stories about boring, weak, indecisive wimps and failures.
I would personally like to have met, if they were real, Nicholas van Rijn, David Falkayn, Adzel, Chee Lan, and Dominic Flandry. Esp. Old Nick and Flandry!
Sean
Adzel and Axor. I would like to help the latter in his quest for the Ancients.
Kaor, Paul!
And we do see Flandry promising Fr. Axor at the end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE that Flandry would get the Imperium to grant him a subsidy to assist in his search. As a reward for his role in the Magnusson affair.
Sean
@ Sean:
Good characters, indeed! I'd also like to get to know Chives- I bet he could tell a tale or two about Dom... I wonder if Chives had his "Agent of the Empire: The Unauthorized Biography of Fleet Admiral Sir Dominic Flandry" KCTE" posthumously published?
"No one in his right mind will WANT to read BAD stories about boring, weak, indecisive wimps and failures."
I believe LOTS of people WANT to read GOOD stories about boring, weak, indecisive wimps and failures, because either we know those people, can relate to those people, or ARE those people. ("If you don't know a 'Michael Scott" you ARE a 'Michael Scott'".) IMHO, much of the appeal of SF, Fantasy, YA, Juvenile, and (perhaps) Romance is that readers can relate to the far-from perfect, "outsider" characters...
I'll give an example from television:
There is a current program here in the US called "What We Do in the Shadows," based on the 2014 vampire mockumentary of the same name. In this version, there is an exceedingly boring, nondescript, middle-aged gentlemen named Colin Robinson living with the other vampires (who are largely inept and clueless). He is an "energy vampire," and my wife and I find him delightful because we know people like that- I've spoken with three already this week! Perhaps it is my taste (De gustibus non est disputandum) but amusing "energy vampires" appeal more to my sensibility than Heinleinian-type "Boy Scouts or "Mary Sues".
@Paul: I think Axor would be a good fellow too... I wonder if in Technic times people don't talk about the "600lb (now -extinct) gorilla in the room" but the "1-tonne Wodenite in the room"?
As far as “search for the Ancients” is concerned: all I have to do is look in a mirror…
Cheers,
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
Thanks for your amusing note. And perhaps I was a bit too waspish about stories featuring wimps and failures. But, I still stand by my own preference. I simply can't see anything interesting in stories about boring, weak, indecisive wimps and failures. I would have thought Alfred the Great, who struggled valiantly against heavy odds to triumph over his enemies more interesting than his hapless, unlucky, INEFFECTUAL descendant Aethelred the Unready. I might take a melancholy interest in a story about King Aethelred, but it would be ALFRED I would admire and HOPE to emulate in similar circumstances. But I would probably be more like Aethelred!
Sean
Kaor, Keith!
I forgot to say something about Chives. Yes, he too would have been good to know personally. I recall Flandry saying in, I think, WE CLAIM THESE STARS, that Chives would probably have been very successful if he had chosen to open up a restaurant on Terra instead of remaining in Sir Dominic's service.
And I still find it hard to grok the idea there can be GOOD stories about boring, weak, indecisive wimps and failures. I'm sure I would find them depressing to read!
Sean
I'd think it would be relatively easy to write interesting and exciting story about Alfie (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118001.Alfred_the_Great), but it would take an exceptional writer to do so with Ethie (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300196290/aethelred)...
RE; Chives Restaurant (In Archopolis):
Paul, what would be on the menu?
I'm imagining Chives competing in:
Top Chef,
Iron Chef
The Great Terran Bakeoff
What is NOT generally known is that Flandry actually set up Chives to oversee a bar in Admiralty Center, so that Flandry can keep up-to-date on Intel Service scuttlebutts, rumors, etc. It's name: The Long Night....
RE:Good stories about.....
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Novel by Jeff Kinney
I can't say anything about the quality of this series since I haven't read them
(4/5 Goodreads
4.8/5 Walmart
4.8/5 Books-A-Million
96% liked this book Google users)
but they are popular (Diary of a Wimpy Kid first appeared on FunBrain in 2004, where it was read 20 million times.[1] The abridged hardcover adaptation was released on April 1, 2007.[2] The book was named a New York Times bestseller, among other awards and praise.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Kid
https://lithub.com/the-new-losers-of-lit-a-reading-list/
A semi-science fictional book I HAVE read and praise is Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Sad_True_Love_Story)
I've enjoyed his other non-autobiaographical books, too.
Shteyngart's protagonists tend to be "significantly less-than-perfect".
Another strong literary fiction work about a real loser (in the day-to-day but not literary sense) is Junot Diaz's The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao)
-kh
Keith,
I am sure that Chives would serve the best of out-system meals, including the few that we read about like Ansa soup - and Merseian telloch.
Paul.
Indeed. I recall some Avalonian dishes,some Unan Besar skimmer(?)fish, Limfjord Oysters, Esperancian (white?) wine. A n disgruntled competitor claimed they served Didonian krippo foie gras, but Chives wholeheartedly denies that. (besides, with d-amino acids, they'd be indigestible)... Wish we nknew about some SSL items... On such topics as "booze IN SPACE":
(http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/humanfactor.php, about 2/3 of the way down....)
-kh
I like the sound of the Avalonian food served in Chapter Six of THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND.
Kaor, Keith!
I'm sure quite a few writers have tried their hand writing about King Alfred, starting with his contemporary Bishop Asser's LIFE OF ALFRED. A work I have read and is a basic source for King Alfred. Yes, I think it would be difficult to do the same for Aethelred the Unready without looking like kicking a man who was down.
I still remember with distaste Arthur Miller's play DEATH OF A SALESMAN, which I read in high school. Miller's pathetic Willie Loman is the classic model of the boring, weak, wimpy, and dreary loser. And it was hideously depressing to read!
I see your DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and trump it with Herman Wouk's THE CITY BOY! The hero of Wouk's book was fat, nerdy, wimpy, and picked on by the neighborhood bully. But we see the "city boy" growing as time passed and learning how to cope with, even to triumph over his troubles. So, not so wimpy!
And the idea of Chives opening a bar in Admiralty Center called "The Long Night" does amuse me! I can see Flandry finding such a place useful for keeping an ear open to the gossip, rumors, scuttlebutt Admiralty Center certainly would have!
And we see mention in A STONE IN HEAVEN of fish (or piscoids?) being imported from Unan Besar, as u said.
Sean
Kaor, Keith!
I looked up the link you gave to Levi Roach's biography of Aethelred the Unready. Dang! Now I'm wondering if I'll have to wonder if I should rethink the common view of that king as being a bungling, fumbling incompetent. I think it should still come down to deciding whether or not Aethelred handled the problems and crises of his reign successfully.
Sean
Thanks, Sean.
Re: Aethelred and others of his ilk: "History is written by the winners."
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
And are the "winners" always wrong? Aethelred DID fail, after wall, to prevent the eventual conquest of England after the very brief reign of his son Edmund Ironsides by the Danes led by Canute the Great. Only the accident of both of Canute's sons, Harold I and Hardecanute, having no sons of their own enabled the old royal house to be restored under Edward the Confessor.
Sean
The winners are sometimes right. At the same time:
"Success does not imply virtue, nor failure iniquity.
(The opposite is also true.)"
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
I certainly agree with that! Barring detailed study by me of Aethelred the Unready, I still think he was a failure, but not necessarily, I agree, a bad man.
Sean
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