Reading Orders IIIb

See Reading Orders III.

In fact, the first Nicholas van Rijn story, "Margin of Profit," had to be revised before it could be incorporated into the Technic History and for this reason was not included, although it was quoted, in the van Rijn collection, Trader To The Stars, which was also the first Technic History collection. The revised "Margin of Profit" was included in the third collection, The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

Between Trader... and the Earth Book, the second collection, The Trouble Twisters, did present David Falkayn's career in a chronological sequence. This volume collects three stories constituting a "Young Falkayn" Trilogy. He is respectively:

apprenticed to Martin Schuster;

a journeyman and factor in Nicholas van Rijn's Solar Spice & Liquors company;

a Master Merchant of the Polesotechnic League, appointed by van Rijn to lead the first trade pioneer crew.

In subsequent volumes, Falkayn's career continues to advance:

savior of Merseia;

hero of the Shenn affair (an external threat to Technic civilization);

discoverer of Mirkheim and founder of Supermetals;

instrumental in ending the Babur War;

acting CEO of SSL;

Founder of the joint human-Ythrian colony on Avalon.

I have summarized Falkayn's biography yet again to make the point that it was almost presented in chronological order - but not quite. Mirkheim about the Babur War, which ends with Falkayn as acting CEO, was published in 1977 whereas "Wingless," in which he has founded Avalon, was published in 1973. Also, after closer study of Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization, "A Sun Invisible," in which Falkayn is a journeyman, was published in 1966 whereas "Trader Team"/"The Trouble Twisters," in which he has become a Master Merchant, was published in 1965.