Three Ways

There have been three ways to read Poul Anderson's short story, "Wings of Victory."

(i) In an sf magazine, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, April 1972.

(ii) In a collection, Poul Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979).

(iii) In a later collection, Poul Anderson, The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume I, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009).

In (i), "Wings of Victory" can be read just as a one-off story. It is the first appearance of the Ythrians and is not obviously part of any series although it does refer to Hermes, Woden and Cynthia, the home planets respectively of David Falkayn, Adzel and Chee Lan who had appeared as series characters in previous stories.

In (ii), "Wings of Victory" is:

the first story in the collection;

the first story in Anderson's Technic History although that will change;

immediately preceded by Hloch's Introduction to the Earth Book.

 

Hloch's Introduction refers to the contents of The People Of The Wind, published in 1973, thus after "Wings of Victory" but before the Earth Book.

 

In (iii), "Wings of Victory" is:

the second story in the collection;

 

now the second story in the Technic History because "The Saturn Game," published in 1981, is set earlier;

preceded by "The Saturn Game" and by Hloch's Introduction to the Earth Book;

now read long before The People Of The Wind since that novel is not collected until the end of The Technic Civilization, Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire.

 

Anyone reading the Technic History for the first time in The Technic Civilization Saga reads Hloch's references to people, places and events on the planet Avalon long before reading about those people, places and events at the end of Volume III and this reading order adds substance to the Technic History as a future history series.