Is ten years previously still close enough to the time of writing to count as "contemporary"? It is hardly "historical." However, a mere decade can transport us into a different period and World War II is a period unto itself:
"London, 1944. The early winter night had fallen, and a thin cold wind blew down streets which were gulfs of darkness. Somewhere came the crump of an explosion, and a fire was burning, great red banners flapping above the roofs."
-6, p. 54. (For full reference, see the above link.)
Definitely not New York, 1954.
To introduce Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, this opening story also presents three other, very different, periods:
"...the Oligocene period, a warm age of forests and grasslands when man's ratty ancestors scuttled away from the tread of giant mammals."
-2, pp. 13-14.
Victorian London. See In The Past.
Addleton Barrow, 464 A.D.:
"There was a full moon. Under it, the land lay big and lonely, with a darkness of forest blocking out the horizon. Somewhere a wolf howled."
-5, p. 39.
The best time travel writing anywhere, I think.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, it's hard to think of any other series of time travel stories better or even equal to those of Poul Anderson. I thought of L. Sprague De Camp's LEST DARKNESS FALL, but that was a one off, not part of a series. And Martin Padway was only accidentally thrown into the past.
Ad astra! Sean
Completely agree -- Poul had a tremendous sense of time and place.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And I noticed your shout out to De Camp's book in THE ANVIL! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment