"Brake" makes more sense when it is understood that it and "Marius" were written as companion pieces and as bookends to the STL period of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History.
"Brake" begins with indications that it belongs to this future history series:
clans on Venus;
Shakespeare enthusiasts (more significant than we initially realize);
a Planetary Engineer;
a needle gun;
Ganymede;
"Union territory" (p. 218) - meaning the Solar Union;
the Fireball Line;
"...a Venusian-style beret and kilt..." (p. 219)
We recognize these details but do not yet realize that this is the last story in which they will appear. "Brake," like Heinlein's "Logic of Empire," belongs at the end of a volume.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Considering how Anderson himself was a serious fan of Shakespeare, it's no surprise to find some of the characters in the stories he wrote also liking the Bard's plays and poems.
Ad astra! Sean
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