Poul Anderson frequently describes humanoid aliens. He tries to make them as different as possible but the basic model remains. A New Lemurian typical of his region has:
long legs;
stocky torso;
nonhuman proportions;
six fingers on each hand;
a blocky head;
large, green eyes with no whites;
a flat nose;
pointed, movable ears;
a blue crest;
bright yellow skin;
catlike whiskers, dyed red;
a scaly leather bolero jacket;
green trousers;
floppy boots;
a scarlet sash;
a pouch;
a sheathed knife;
a sheathed curved sword.
Quite colorful when set out like that. Despite all the alienness, we recognize a human form:
head;
torso;
two eyes;
two ears;
nose;
legs;
hands with fingers;
hair;
recognizable garments.
I cannot keep a picture of an alien as described by the author in mind while reading. Listing the various oddities has helped me to remember them a bit whereas they had already gone after a first reading.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Hmmm, you are one of those persons who have difficulty forming an image from a description? I think I can somewhat vaguely form a picture of a New Lemurian from the given description. Altho a bright yellow skin does seem odd!
And the map with those fictional continents of Atlantis and Lemuria makes me want to look up the latter name.
Sean
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