"I was young and poor and wanted money to travel on; I could write derring-do very fast; why not? Therefore I churned out a total of about a dozen. That was all. They caused persons who think in categories to dismiss me as nothing but a blood-and-thunderer, and these folks took a long time to change their minds. Some never have. No matter. I don't feel the least apologetic for having thus earned the means to widen my horizons. Those tales were in no way memorable, but they weren't pretentious either, and if they gave a little diversion to most of their readers, they served their purpose."
-Poul Anderson, "Concerning Future Histories" IN Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America, Volume 14, Number 3, Fall 1979, Whole Number 71, pp. 7-14 AT p. 8.
The inconsequential Dominic Flandry story illustrated by the attached cover image was incorporated into Anderson's substantial future history series, the History of Technic Civilization, where it serves as a prelude or prologue to the major Flandry novel, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. Thus, even this pulp-magazine-published action-adventure short story has made itself memorable.
I have some points to make about the above quotation but they will require several posts which might be sparse over the next week or so. I will also, perhaps at a leisurely pace, finish rereading Anderson's Technic History novel, The People Of The Wind.
Happy Solstice, which this is. The Christian half of a Christian/Wiccan handfast/marriage has just rung with seasonal greetings because they are unable to host a party/gathering/ritual/meal this year. We hope that life will be better in 2021 and in the ensuing future history.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that bit you quoted, and the truly lurid covers typical of PLANET STORIES. But I would not speak so minimizingly as did Anderson for the stories he wrote for PS. All of those which I've read were well worth reading and I used "Warriors From Nowhere" to help write my "Crime and Punishment in the Terran Empire" article. So even "Warriors" was more than merely a pulp story.
Ad astra! Sean
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