Avalon's:
"...mysteries had barely been skimmed by the original explorers..." (p. 411)
That is to say by the characters in "The Problem of Pain," published in the same year as "Wingless" and collected earlier in the Earth Book. The publication history of the "Ythrians" sub-series of Poul Anderson's Technic History is as follows:
"Wings of Victory," ASF, April 1972;
"The Problem of Pain," FSF, February 1973;
"Lodestar," Harry Harrison (Ed.), Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology (Random House, 1973);
"Wingless," Roger Elwood (Ed.), Children Of Infinity (Franklin Watts, 1973);
"Rescue on Avalon," Boy's Life, 1973;
The People Of The Wind (New York, 1973);
The Day Of Their Return (New York, 1973).
They were all written together, almost, although "Wings of Victory," the earliest, is set in the period of the first Grand Survey whereas The Day Of Their Return, the latest, is set in the Flandry period of the Terran Empire. All five short stories are in the Earth Book, a companion volume to The People Of The Wind, whereas The Day Of Their Return is integral to the nine-volume Flandry period.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN is not truly a "Ythrian" story, despite having a Ythrian character. It's something of a bildungsroman, around an Aenean, Ivar Frederiksen, as he was forced to grow up and come face to face with hard facts. One of them being the Domain of Ythri was not interested in making trouble for the Empire. And another being that the threat posed by Merseia was not propaganda, but a very real thing. That real life was not going to be as simple as most of us would like.
Ad astra! Sean
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