Monday 20 April 2020

The First Four FTL Stories In The Psychotechnic History

"Gypsy"
"Star Ship"
"The Acolytes"
"The Green Thumb"

These four stories present three, not four, discrete narratives because "The Green Thumb" continues the characters and setting of "The Acolytes."

In "The Acolytes," ten-year old Pete remembers the "...psycho-physiological habits..." of his "...training in self-integration..." (p. 18)

This is the only indication in any of these four stories that psychotechnics might be practiced back in the Solar System.

In "Gypsy," the first person narrator swears by Cosmos. In "The Green Thumb," the alien, Joe, refers to the human god as:

"'Your all-pervading primordial Cosmos, whom you do not even pretend to understand.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Green Thumb" IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 3, pp. 21-41 AT p. 28.

According to the Chronology, the Cosmic Religion began in 2130:

10 years before "Holmgang";
40 before the Humanist Revolt;
50 before"Cold Victory";
654 before the invention of the hyperdrive;
685 before "Gypsy"
etc.

However, do any of the pre-hyperdrive, pre-FTL, stories refer to this religion? I have just looked back but not found any references. One Planetary Engineer says:

"'For God's sake...'"
-"The Snows of Ganymede," II, p. 145.

My point is that these four stories do not connect back in any definite way to the STL period of the Psychotechnic History.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And what on Earth is or can a "Cosmic religion" BE, anyway? Some kind of pantheism, where we are supposed to worship the entire universe? Absurd, of course! Something so vague and abstract will never carry CONVICTION.

Ad astra! Sean