Monday, 23 September 2019

The Contemporary In The Cosmic III

In Operation Luna, Poul Anderson describes the York that we know (see York Minster) even though this, otherwise indistinguishable, York is on an alternative Earth where:

magic works;

air travel is by broomsticks or flying carpets;

the two American visitors are a werewolf and a witch whose daughter will later meet Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Holger Danske while traveling between universes;

the Devil/the Adversary is a real and active being;

Hell is a low entropy universe with distorted space-time;

there is contact with Heaven and a route to Yggdrasil;

evil supernatural beings have emigrated to the Moon;

an enchanted sword speaks;

etc.

Can our York coexist with all that? Many who have lived there have believed in at least some of these things.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And we see yet another alternative York in one of Gaia's "emulations" in GENESIS!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
My point was that this York is identical with ours except for its exotic setting.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Understood. I was thinking of how York was used in others of Anderson's works. It seems to have been one of his favorite British cities.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
York and New York are linked by their names but are very different. There are "New York Italian" Restaurants in York!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I see a kind of amusing irony in that! I made rather a point of trying to eat British style while in the UK.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

The "Operation Luna" universe is an alternate history identical with ours until the late 19th or early 20th century, so York Minster would be the same.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

And York Minster, simply as both a church and work of art, pleased and appealed to me far more than did the former Westminster Abbey.

And I esp. enjoyed visiting the Catholic Westminster Cathedral, near Victoria Underground. I would like to think Poul Anderson visited that church as well, even if he never mentioned it in any of his stories.

Ad astra! Sean