(i) The author, directly addressing his readers, discusses the text. Such an introduction is clearly not part of the work in question and may be added in later editions. Thus, in The Technic Civilization Saga, Poul Anderson introduces The Game Of Empire and The Night Face and his original foreword to "Lodestar" is re-presented as an afterword.
(ii) The opening passage of the text is a fictional introduction. Thus, Donvar Ayeghen fictitiously introduces Anderson's "The Star Plunderer."
(iii) Newly written fictional introductions precede the texts in later collections, e.g., in Anderson's The Trouble Twisters and The Earth Book Of Stormgate. Thus, we read introductions fictitiously written by:
Vance Hall, an extract from his Commentaries on the Philosophy of Noah Arkwright;
Noah Arkwright, an extract from his An Introduction to Sophontology;
Urwain the Wide-Faring, an extract from his diary;
Hloch of Stormgate Choth.
And all this is faithfully reproduced in The Technic Civilization Saga.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I recall how often Stirling prefaced the chapters of his Draka books and Lords of Creation novels with extracts from fictional works. I was esp. struck by his quotes from a fictional edition of the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA for the Lords books. They reminded me of Asimov's quotes from his fictional ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA.
We don't often see Anderson doing that, altho some novels and stories, such as that quote from the PILOT'S MANUAL at the beginning of ENSIGN FLANDRY, begins like that. And other stories, such as "Sister Planet," begins with Biblical quotes.
Ad astra! Sean
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