Tuesday 11 February 2020

A Chronological Observation

See Sean M. Brooks' article on Sandra Miesel's Technic Civilization Chronology, here.

Hank Davis tells us that Poul Anderson's "A Tragedy of Errors" is set:

"...over half a century after The Game Of Empire..."
-Hank Davis, THE WHEEL TURNS IN Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. vii-xii AT p. x.

According to Miesel's published Chronology, The Game Of Empire is set in 3064 whereas "A Tragedy of Errors" is set in 3600. Miesel's post-Imperial dates can only be highly conjectural. However, fifty-plus years is far too short as the interval between a year when Flandry was still alive and the year of "A Tragedy of Errors." How old is Roan Tom then? I think that we are to understand that he was born during the Long Night? He was and his father, outlawed after a feud, turned pirate so that too must have been during the Long Night. We have to allow for more than a few decades between the last Flandry installment and the first post-Imperial installment.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I agree, Hank Davis erred here. "A Tragedy of Errors" took place centuries after THE GAME OF EMPIRE.

Ad astra! Sean