Some Reminiscences

About 1970, James Blish acknowledged publicly that he had written Star Trek adaptations only for money reasons. A fellow sf fan commented to me, "I am glad that Blish has told me that I needn't bother with Star Trek." At about the same time, Blish recommended Poul Anderson to me. Thinking that the Flandry series was only space opera and echoing the comment of the other sf fan, I asked Blish something like "Maybe I needn't bother with Dominic Flandry?" and Blish agreed. Maybe the dates show that the Flandry series developed into more than space opera later? Also about that time, Blish remarked to me, "Poul likes the flamboyant character of Nicholas van Rijn but I think it is about played out." The dates show:

"Esau" (1970)

"The Master Key" (1971)

"Lodestar" (1973)

Mirkheim (1977)

"Margin of Profit," revised (1978)

 

So van Rijn had a lot more life in him yet. In fact, in fictional terms, Sandra Tamarin thinks:

"Why, he's old..."

-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT XIX, p. 253 -

- but then:

"And then van Rijn, damn his sooty heart, refused to be pitiable but grabbed her hand, bestowed a splashing kiss upon it, and pumped it as if he expected water to gush from her mouth."

-ibid., p. 254.

 

And, at the end of his last novel, Mirkheim, van Rijn is proposing years of work to be followed by an expedition outside known space. Both the character and his series continued for longer than expected.