Fourteen years have elapsed between A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, the end of the Captain Flandry series, and A Stone In Heaven, when Flandry has become an Admiral. How many novels could have been set in that fourteen year period? One for each year? What has Flandry done in that time? There are two clues.
Cairncross thinks:
"...Dietrich relied on him too, occasionally." (p. 68)
Dietrich was Emperor between his father, Hans, and his brother, Gerhart, who is the last Terran Emperor that we see, although Crown Prince Karl waits in the wings.
Gerhart says:
"'Since the middle of my father's reign, he has in effect been dreaming up his own assignments, and ruling over a tight-knit staff who report to nobody else. His conduct hasn't been insubordinate, but sometimes it has come close.'" (ibid.)
That is intriguing enough. In Valhalla, my colleagues in the Bentham Grammar School Association would play cricket every day. I would read all the untold tales of Dominic Flandry which Poul Anderson would write effortlessly while multitasking other projects.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And we get a glimpse of then Crown Prince Dietrich acting as host receiving the guests at a party held at the Coral Palace in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS.
I don't think Flandry was totally dreaming up his assignments from the middle of Emperor Hans reign. While he did hold a special "roving" commission from Hans, that must have meant frequent reporting to him the results of his missions. With the Emperor often discussing with Flandry special problems he wanted him to look into.
I think the problem with Gerhart was him being jealous of Flandry! Jealous of the special regard his father had for Sir Dominic.
Ad astra! Sean
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