At the
Heicon, EC Tubb, in his GOH speech, asked the audience which sf book they would recommend to someone who had never read any sf. John Brunner replied, "Philip K. Dick's
The Man In The High Castle because everyone has heard of World War II." But which Poul Anderson book or story would we recommend? Should we say, "'Time Patrol' because everyone has heard of Sherlock Holmes, Victorian England, Romano-Britons, Angles, Saxons, World War II, the question whether the world would have been better off without Adolf Hitler and time machines and also because the single short fight scene occurs in the middle of the story, not near the beginning"?
"This is my answer to the question 'What book would I give to a friend who doesn't read sf?'"
-David Drake, back cover blurb on Poul Anderson, The Time Patrol (New York, 1991).
Focusing not on sf but specifically on Poul Anderson, if I were to recommend any work to an acquaintance who is a second hand bookseller and former English teacher, I would suggest A Midsummer Tempest, a book that I needed three attempts to get into, or maybe Poul and Karen Anderson's The King Of Ys - but definitely not Dominic Flandry.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
While I agree A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST is a good way to first become acquainted with the works of Poul Anderson, I would have suggested others of as being appropriate for first time readers of Anderson. I have alternately suggested either THE HIGH CRUSADE or THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS.
I don't know if Philip Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE would be that apt for a new reader of SF. It's a rather advanced and high brow kind of book, after all!
And the very first of any of Anderson's stories that I read were those showing us Dominic Flandry in the Chilton Books edition of AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, lo these umpteen MANY years ago! And that was enough to get me hooked on Anderson's stuff.
Why would you NOT recommend the Flandry stories for first time readers of Anderson and/or SF?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
To some, I would but I was referring to a particular guy with very literary tastes.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And literary guys would prefer more literary books? I get that now.
Ad astra! Sean
Flandry grows out of a specific sub-genre, the pulp planetary adventure/planetary romance tradition, and to be best appreciated requires some familiarity with that.
These days, the Flandry stories might be a good intro because so much of that tradition has infiltrated popular culture in ways that weren't so true in the 1950's or 1960's -- via Star Wars, etc.
I'd give someone THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS, but A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST might be a good intro with someone who was very familiar with Shakespeare. And the TIME PATROL series are just my favorites, but I've always been fascinated with history.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree the original Flandry stories were pulp tales springing from the action/adventure romantic tradition. Interesting, your suggestion that the STAR WARS movies, for which I have only disdain, might be a good way of introducing SW fans to the Flandry stories. And I certainly hope that will happen.
I do think that any well done and accurate filmed versions of the Flandry tales would be superior to both STAR TREK and STAR WARS. At least partly because they would show Flandry and his society as sharing common origins with us. Which I never got from the STAR WARS movies
I agree with how you would use THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS and A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST for introducing certain kinds of readers to Anderson's works. I also still think THE HIGH CRUSASDE would also appeal to some first time readers of Anderson.
I would also suggest to such readers they take a look at some of YOUR own stand alone works, such as THE PESHAWAR LANCERS and CONQUISTADOR.
Ad astra! Sean
THE PESHAWAR LANCERS and CONQUISTADOR - the best introductions to SM Stirling's works!
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