Saturday 1 August 2020

Wunderlander Mixed Ecology And Kzinti Pronunciation

"The Asteroid Queen," Chapter VII.

As at the beginning of Poul Anderson's The Day Of Their Return, guerillas wait to ambush an occupation force convoy. In this case, the occupation force is kzinti and the guerillas hide above the valley of the Donau River on Wunderland where dust and vapor kicked into the stratosphere cause a cold summer. Brown squidgrass struggles to survive under heavily scented wild rosebushes.

Green mutant alfalfa feeds:

six-legged garumphers;
cattle;
beefaloes;
bison;
orange kzinti raaairtwo.

(Kzinti pronunciation is sometimes conveyed by triple Roman letters. See Non Sequitur.)

As ever, we feel that this is a real planet, as if the authors have been there.

One of the kzinti is called Chmee-Sergeant (p. 127) and there was an ancient epic called Warlord Chmee at the Pillars (Chapter V, p. 104) whereas the kzin who goes to the Ringworld, when he has earned a name, is called Chmeee.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And that Kzin play, "Warlord Chmee at the Pillars," made me think of Sophocles "Oedipus at Colonus."

Ad astra! Sean