-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson Un-Man And Other Novellas (New York, 1962), pp. 103-129 AT p. 106.
"Of course, a merchant prince did have to be wary of kidnappers and assassins, though van Rijn himself was said to murderously fast with a handgun. Nevertheless, arming your receptionist was not a polite thing to do."
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 135-173 AT p. 138.
We notice:
minor rewordings;
that there are formal duels in the Solar Federation although not in the Solar Commonwealth.
The first version is set in Batavia, the second in Djakarta, but they turn out to be the same place.
Both versions refer to the trademark of the Solar Spice & Liquors Company but do not describe it. They should. This would have to be invented for any screen adaptation, like the many Barsoomian "devices" mentioned by ERB.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
In some ways, the original version of "Margin of Profit," first pub. by AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION in September 1956, was still very much a story belonging to Anderson's early phase as a writer. The original text you quoted is definitely more "lush" than the revised form. And as a Catholic van Rijn would know the Church condemned formal duels as nothing but homicide. Albeit, we do see mention of some duels in the Technic stories, most famously the one fought by Flandry with Aycharaych in "Honorable Enemies."
Ad astra! Sean
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