Sunday 9 February 2020

Cities And Stars IV


See Cities And Stars III.

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWELVE.

"The bathrobe flapped around [Flandry's] ankles as he strode to the transparency and stood raggedly smoking. Through a light rain and an early dusk, the city flashed hectic, as far as vision could fare. Within this room, the odor of roses and the lilt of a Mozart concerto receded toward infinity." (p. 320)


Five senses:

the feel of the flapping bathrobe;
the taste of tobacco;
hectic flashing in the early dusk;
the odor of roses;
Mozart.

That hectic flashing recalls Anderson's description of New York in Time Patrol. See here.

Miriam joins Dominic at the window:

"She stared outward and upward. Stars were lost in the haze of light from the towers everywhere around..." (p. 321)

Like van Rijn, the Flandrys look out at a city beneath the stars even though, in this case, the latter are invisible.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I also recall how the "nightmare beauty" of Archopolis stunned Miriam Abrams when she first came to the capital of the Empire in A STONE IN HEAVEN.

Ad astra! Sean