There definitely are minor textual differences between "The White King's War" and the corresponding chapters of A Circus Of Hells although we will not try to catalogue them. A "husky voice" becomes a "soprano." Did you know that there was a Black Hole in Catawrayannis? Neither did I. In the novel, the Black Hole is on Jihannath.
In the short story, each of the small, torpedo-shaped courier vessels contains a minimum of hyperdrive and gray drive machinery. I pondered "gray drive" until I confirmed by rereading the same passage in the novel that the couriers have hyperdrive and gravdrive machinery.
Despite such minor changes, they are exactly the same story except that, in the novel, Djana turns out to be working not only for Ammon but also for the Merseian spy ring. A whole further level of intrigue is introduced and thus a more interesting narrative created.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I did notice those minor textual differences between the two versions of "White King's War," both the short story and the first part of A CIRCUS OF HELLS. My belief is the changes Anderson made improved the story.
And the point I remembered about Djana's mention of that Black Hole on Jihannath was condemning the Empire for what she suffered there. Which did not make sense because Jihannath was not even part of the Empire at that time. It seems to have been an independent planet till the Merseians tied, a few years later, to annex it. Which Terra opposed so strongly that the Roidhunate thought it wiser to back down. Only then did Jihannath come under Imperial rule.
Ad astra! Sean
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