"Tiger By The Tail" (1951) introduced Captain Dominic Flandry. Ensign Flandry (1966) explained how Flandry had got into Intelligence.
Casino Royale (1953) by Ian Fleming introduced Commander James Bond and summarized how Bond had acquired his 00 number. Forever And A Day (2018) by Anthony Horowitz expands on the acquisition of the 00 number, then recounts Bond's first 00 assignment.
Two worthwhile prequels, albeit with obvious differences.
Fortunately, additions to Anderson by other authors are few. Unfortunately, additions to Fleming by other authors are numerous and often as pointless as the films.
There is a "whatever else I am reading at the same time" aspect to this blog but I hope that that aspect sustains interest and helps to locate Poul Anderson in a wider literary context.
(Look out for a brilliant opening line in Forever And A Day.)
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm definitely taking my copy of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE to reread during my weak away from home. Rereading the Bond books has made me think much better of 007!
Been undecided about which of Anderson's books to take with me. And I want to take one other book by a different author.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Been a busy day for me, doing errands, doing some house cleaning, getting things ready for my vacation trip. One thing did today was going to Barnes and Noble to see if I might find a new book to take with me. I was glad to find for sale the late Jerry Pournelle's posthumously pub. MAMELUKES, the fourth of the books he set on the planet Tran (with "contributions" by David Weber and Philip Pournelle). I assume that means the book was not quite finished when Pournelle died and needed some editing and polishing up.
I greatly enjoyed the JANISSARIES series set on Tran, and I hope the last volume lives up to the three earlier ones.
I also checked to see if any of Poul Anderson's books were being offered, and I found not even one! AND no less than EIGHT of Asimov's overrated works were in the SF section. Bah!!!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
In Waterstones Bookshop in Lancaster, no Anderson but Asimov's FOUNDATION and THE COMPLETE ROBOT. I will return there today to buy Horowitz's first Bond book.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Re Asimov: irritatingly unsurprising! SOMEBODY seems to be working hard at keeping his stuff in print. Too bad that is not being done for Anderson's far better stories!
As regards newish authors, I've seen good thing said about David Weber. Somebody I will keep in mind.
Ad astra! Sean
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