Sunday 2 January 2022

Again Introductions

In his introductions to the seven volumes of The Technic Civilization Saga, Hank Davis discusses the introductions, if any, to the individual installments. Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, collects:

two novels, Mirkheim and The People Of The Wind;

two short stories, "Wingless" and "Rescue on Avalon";

two novelettes, "The Star Plunderer" and "Sargasso of Lost Starships."

Davis informs us that:

the novels have no known introductions;

the short stories each have an Earth Book introduction;

the first novelette has had an introduction since it was first published in Planet Stories.

However, none of these three introductions is of type (i). (See Three Kinds Of Introductions.) The Earth Book introductions are type (iii). The other is of type (ii) which is really just part of the text.

Davis adds a type (iii) introduction, written as by "Michael Karageorge," to the second novelette. This is the only such introduction added in the Saga and is quite effective, giving a new lease of life to Donvar Ayeghen who is cited by Karageorge.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm sorry that Anderson so seldom added Stirlingian style extracts from fictional works to many of his stories. An exception would be the quote from theA fictional paper prefacing "The Saturn Game."

And I utterly loath the Baen Books covers for YOUNG FLANDRY, CAPTAIN FLANDRY, and SIR DOMINIC FLANDRY! They make Flandry look like a goon cavorting with naked bimbos! And he was so much more than a hedonist.

Ad astra! Sean