Anderson And Others

("Ander" is a name but "anders" also means "other.")

As you know, I hope, the main focus of this blog always remains Poul Anderson. Other authors, notably SM Stirling, are discussed because they are both relevant and of interest. (EE Smith would be relevant as a writer of space opera but of less interest to me as a reader.)

The dilemma for the Poul Anderson Appreciation blogger is: which work by Poul Anderson to reread next? A scan through the collections should disclose some short stories that have not been reread recently. However, surprises are also possible. Ali Romer's review of Anderson's first detective novel prompted me to reread that work in order first to appreciate Anderson's evocation of "time and place," as commended by Ali, and secondly to assess the novel specifically as detective fiction, an aspect that had not really interested me before. On previous readings, I had not even tried to deduce who the murderer was and in any case had by now forgotten! This time I guessed right but certainly had not deduced any of the ramifications of the complicated plot - in two senses of the word, "plot."

So should Anderson's Murder Bound be reread next? (I do not have a copy of Murder In Black Letter and had to read it online.) Will I make some attempt to deduce who did it? Again, I do not remember. What do I remember from the book?-

sympathetic treatment of a Communist character;
an interesting use of the word, "environmentalism";
hints at supernaturalism, as with the cursed sword in Perish By The Sword;
thus, relevance of Anderson's fantasy, "The Tale of Hauk";
relevance of the fact that San Francisco is a port;
passages clearly reminding us that Anderson also wrote sf.

But there will be much that I have totally forgotten.