Friday, 3 May 2019

Sun, Clouds And Sea

I am receiving the message, "Sorry! We could not copy your photos to your blog." Have I come to the end of my allowable number of free images from Google?

(Later: After another attempt, the image has just gone on.)

The Man Who Counts, see here.

"The wind ruffled waves and strummed idly on rigging. The sun struck long copper-tinged rays through scudding cloudbanks, to walk on the sea with fiery footprints. The air was cool, damp, smelling a little of salty life. It would not be an easy time to die, thought Wace." (XIX, p. 483)

Strumming (sound);
sun (sight);
cool and damp (sensations);
salt (smell and, by implication, taste);
a thought (inner reflection).

A complete picture. We need more wind, sun and clouds in hard sf. Wace and van Rijn have just fought alongside some Diomedeans against others and will now try to bring peace between them but meanwhile Anderson rightly describes the sea scene on the planet Diomedes.

2 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree, a very nice description by Anderson. Alas, more impatient types have complained Anderson having too many descriptions in his works. Or making his prose "clunky." And I disagree with such carpers!

Sean

Anonymous said...

I think such prose makes the text beautiful and illuminating!

-kh