Monday, 27 September 2021

Post-Hloch

It would have been good if Donvar Ayeghen or someone else from the Galactic Archaeological Society had replaced Hloch of Stormgate Choth as a regular commentator on the Technic History but this was not to be. Nor do the post-Earth Book Technic History installments have individual introductions with just two exceptions. First, Hank Davis, Compiler of The Technic Civilization Saga, contributes an introduction to "Sargasso of Lost Starships," fictitiously written by Michael Karageorge, a contemporary of Ayeghen. Is this valid? It does no harm and underlines that the entire series is fiction in any case.

In The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume VI, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows is the last Captain Flandry installment. After that, Flandry is an Admiral. A Knight... has an italicized introduction and afterword that are unfortunately unsigned. Their perspective is that of a Dennitzan writing long after the events described in the novel. He tells us that:

the poet Andrei Simich celebrated Dennitzan heroes;

tundra thunder beneath herds of gromatz;

orliks stoop on their prey;

dyavos roar when hunting;

a vilya's call is deadly whereas guslars sing sweetly in spring;

Yovan Matavuly led the colonists through lightless space to Dennitza, their Morning Star;

Toman Obilich killed wild Vladimir on a Glacier;

Gwyth sailed through the storms of the Black Ocean;

Stefan Miyatovich repelled reavers during the Troubles, here called the Night Years;

Gospodar Bodin Miyatovich led a raid (described in the novel);

when Bodin returned in glory, maidens danced and sang and every bell in Zorkagrad pealed;

Kossara was canonized and Dennitza remained at peace while Bodin was Gospodar.

The history of Dennitza stretches away into a remote future beyond our ken.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And "Michael Karageorge" was an occasional pseudonym of Poul Anderson, which Hank Davis probably thought made for a suitably Andersonian precedent he could use. Anderson must also have known "Karageorge" is the name of the former ruling family of Serbia/Yugoslavia.

Ad astra! Sean