"Kraachnach of the Martian Transport Company was glowing his yellow eyes at a Frans Hals on the wall."
-"Margin of Profit," p. 122, p. 148.
See also Hiroshige And Mozart.
"Kraaknach...ran a clawlike hand through his gray feathers and lit a rinn tube." (p. 113)
"Kraaknach...ran a clawed hand across gray feathers, stuck a rinn tube through the intake sphincter on his helmet, and lit it." (p. 150)
I cannot buy Martians with feathers although they appear elsewhere in Anderson's works. See:
Poul Anderson's Martians: The Full List?
Strangers
Every time I reread Anderson's works, I have no idea what will come up to post about.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But I can buy some aliens having feathers. I believe non human intelligent races will be different from each other in every possible way.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But on Mars - or a Martoid planet?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Meaning fur or some kind of thick hair is more likely? That is a good point, albeit we don't know enough about Kraaknach's physiology to decide either way.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that anything is less implausible than feathers!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
In this case, yes. But Anderson was trying to keep as much as possible from the first version of "Margin of Profit" in the revised text. He was pretty much stuck with Kraaknach's feathers. The original form of "Margin" came from his early phase, when he was still learning how to write.
Ad astra! Sean
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