Sunday 8 March 2020

The Early Van Rijn Stories II

The CHRONOLOGY OF TECHNIC CIVILIZATION in The Technic Civilization Saga wrongly states that Poul Anderson's "The Master Key" was published in 1971. This is impossible because it was collected in Trader To The Stars, which was published in 1964.

In 1960, John W. Campbell changed the title of the Astounding sf magazine to Analog Science Fiction & Fact. Thus, ASF can mean the same magazine both before and after the name change.

In ASF
"Margin of Profit," September, 1956.
"The Man Who Counts," February-April, 1958.
"Hiding Place," March, 1961.
"Territory," June, 1963.
"The Master Key," 1964.
"Esau," February, 1970.

Collections
Un-Man And Other Novellas (1962)
"Un-Man" (Psychotechnic History)
"Margin of Profit" (unrevised ASF version)
"The Live Coward" (Wing Alak series)

Trader To The Stars (1964)
"Hiding Place"
"Territory"
"The Master Key"

The Earth Book Of Stormgate (1978)
- collects twelve Technic History installments, including:
"Margin of Profit" (revised)
"Esau"
The Man Who Counts

The Technic Civilization Saga, (seven volumes, 2009-2012)
- collects the entire Technic History in chronological order, including revised versions if appropriate.

A Novel (with changing title)
War Of The Wing-Men (1958)
The Man Who Counts (1978)
The Earth Book Of Stormgate-2 (1980) 

Thus, this van Rijn novel was republished both in a collection and as a discrete volume in a single year, 1978.

Van Rijn appears in eleven works by Poul Anderson, including ten Technic History installments.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I recall reading some where of Poul Anderson considering Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry two of his most favorites of the characters he created. And I still wonder why "Margin of Profit" was not included in TRADER TO THE STARS.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Because it had not been revised yet? And THE MAN WHO COUNTS WAS A NOVEL. So "Hiding Place" was at that time the first short story in the Technic History.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

But TRADER TO THE STARS was first pub. in 1964, only a few years after "Margin of Profit had been pub. as well. And that story was revised for THE EARTH BOOK OF STORMGATE only in the late 1970's. So I see no real difficulty preventing Anderson from including the first version of "Margin" with TRADER.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
"The Plague of Masters" was published in 1961. Thus, the Technic History had come into existence and the unrevised "Margin of Profit" was incompatible with it.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Then I'll have to reread the original version of "Margin of Profit" with an eye to noting where it did not fit in well with the nascent Technic series.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
That is next on my agenda as well. Two differences that I remember are "Federation" instead of "Commonwealth" and the Martians as native to Mars.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I noticed that in another of your blog pieces and remembered how the Technic stories mentioned Mars as being COLONIZED by non-humans, not as having a native race of its own.

Ad astra! Sean