Tuesday 28 July 2020

A Marked Man

"The Children's Hour," Chapter II.

Pournelle and Stirling write:

kzinti, created by Larry Niven;
Ulf Markham, created by Poul Anderson;
new characters created by themselves -

- a three-layered narrative.

Markham:

is as arrogant as a kzin, according to a subordinate;
will not have the kzinti called "ratcats";
calls the UN "'...fat cowards...'" (p. 192)

Thus, there are multiple foreshadowings of his later conversion to the cause of the kzinti, which is already known to us if we have read the Man-Kin Wars series in order of publication.

Well over 100 pages of Pournelle's and Stirling's first Man-Kzin Wars story still lie ahead of us but they will not be read here tonight.

Hunt well.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I remember Ulf Markham! He turned to serving the Kzinti because he was disappointed by what Wunderland turned into after the liberation. It became far too democratic or "chaotic" for his taste.

Ad astra! Sean