other fantasy and sf works from the same period;
earlier works in the several literary traditions to which Anderson contributes.
Sometimes on this blog we focus on the minutiae of a single future history series by Poul Anderson whereas, at other times, we compare up to a dozen such series by different authors as if they were parallel timelines with events like future world wars and revolutions that are almost contemporaneous although also sideways in time.
This blog has argued for:
the centrality of HG Wells in time travel, space travel, interplanetary invasion and future history;
the importance of Robert Heinlein's Future History as preceding Anderson's future histories;
the significance of SM Stirling as a colleague and successor of Anderson, specifically in alternative history fiction.
The General series by SM Stirling and David Drake is in the sub-genre of interstellar political and military sf like Anderson's Flandry series. I am about to start reading for the first time The General, Volume I, The Forge. There will be some discussion of this novel not only for any Anderson parallels but also as an example of its distinctive sub-genre.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And considering how MUCH I like the works of S.M. Stirling, I'm going to be very interested in whatever you say about Drake/Stirling's THE GENERAL series! The very first time I read any of Stirling's books was UNDER THE YOKE, because of the very friendly blurb Poul Anderson provided for that book.
I really should have read Stirling's first Draka book MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, instead of UNDER. I would have gotten more context that way. But, Anderson's blurb for the second Draka volume made it too tempting to put off. My copy of UNDER quotes Anderson on the back cover like this: "It's an exciting, evocative, thought provoking--but of course horrifying--read!"
That was enough, along with the sheer interest and story telling ability of Stirling as a writer, to get me hooked. I even know exactly when I first picked up a Stirling book, because I still have in my copy of UNDER the sales receipt: October 7, 1989.
So I hope you have fun reading THE GENERAL books!
Sean
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