Authors' outputs vary enormously. In my teens, James Blish was my favorite sf writer. This Poul Anderson Appreciation blog has wound up as big as it is first because my appreciation of Anderson's works has progressively increased and secondly because Anderson's output is considerably vaster than Blish's. Does anyone have a figure for the number of novels, let alone short stories, published under Anderson's name? I am not going to try to count them at this time of night. The number of collections is meaningless because their contents overlap too much.
Dornford Yates, whom I also appreciated in my teens, wrote thirty four volumes, either novels or collections, with many overlapping characters but no overlapping contents. Stieg Larsson, who was not around in my teens or indeed as an author in the twentieth century, wrote three volumes although he had planned another seven.
Quality matters more than quantity. These four guys have quality and Anderson also has quantity.
Can anyone identify the titles in the attached image?
17 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm very sorry Ketlan's precarious health forced him to check into a hospital. I hope he gets better fast!
You defined a novel as any story which is at least one hundred pages long. And that works for me. It would be interesting to get an idea of how many novels Anderson wrote. I'll have to go thru the lists in my CODEX ANDERSONIANUS soon and do that.
These are the titles I could more or less make out from your illustration:
THREE WORLDS TO CONQUER
QUESTION AND ANSWER
FIRE TIME
TAU ZERO
THE LONG NIGHT
THE GAME OF EMPIRE (Maybe)
Sean
Sean,
Definitely THE GAME OF EMPIRE.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I thought so, from the color of the book and the shape of the lettering on the spine.
Sean
Paul and Sean:
I identified the ones Sean did, as well as Time and Stars and Trader to the Stars on either side of Tau Zero. The book at the viewer's farthest left might be Shield; it seems to be a single-word title of about the right length.
Now that you point it out...
Kaor, DAVID!
I took another look and I can make out TIME AND STARS, but the other title you mentioned was too blurry for me to be sure it was TRADER TO THE STARS. The image on your computer must be clearer!
Sean
Sean:
The edition of Trader to the Stars I own is the same as the one in the picture. The portion of the cover art that wraps onto the spine, and the color of the title, too, match with the book in that image. It gave me an advantage. (The frontal art shows what's supposed to be Van Rijn shooting at the sun to impress the t'Kelans in "Territory." No mustache or goatee, significantly shorter hair than his shoulder-length ringlets, richly dressed with no environment suit — but the face, aside from the tonsorial aspects, does give a good impression of him.)
Had a double-post there for some reason.
Kaor, DAVID!
That explains why you recognized that edition of TRADER TO THE STARS. Any pictorial representation of Old Nick should show him as very tall, and both massively muscular and obese. Plus the long ringleted hair and goatee! (Smiles)
Sean
I Googled cover pictures for Shield. One of the images includes a bit of the book's spine ... and its colors, that shade of blue and the dark red at top, match those in the blog image. I think we can take that identification as confirmed. (The cover picture shows the guy floating above the Earth in a mostly-cylindrical shield.)
Best wishes for Ketlan.
Thank you. It seems that he will remain in hospital over the weekend.
Kaor, Paul!
And I offer my good wishes again for Ketlan's recovery!
Sean
I am just off the visit him again, this time carrying a slice of cheese cake.
One patient had security men on duty!
Kaor, Paul!
And I hope you had a pleasant time with Ketlan and that he makes a good recovery.
Either that patient guarded by security men was prominent and wealthy or possibly a sick criminal or criminal suspect under police guard.
Sean
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