The Earth Book And The Terran Empire

The Terran Empire occupies more of Poul Anderson's Technic History than we might think. The Flandry series is eight volumes but the Flandry period is nine volumes and the Imperial period is ten volumes because it includes the pre-Flandry novel, The People Of The Wind, or should we say eleven volumes, to include The Earth Book Of Stormgate? The Earth Book begins and ends with Hloch addressing his readers shortly after the events of The People Of The Wind, thus in the Imperial period although Hloch is not in the Empire. Granted that the Earth Book is a collection of twelve pre-Imperial installments of the Technic History. Nevertheless, we are to understand that this collection is published in the Imperial period as a reminiscence of earlier events. Its publication is itself an event in the History at this date. Thus, this single volume combines the three main elements of the Technic History:

the Polesotechnic League

human-Ythrian interactions

the Terran Empire

 

The only non-Imperial volumes are the Polesotechnic League Tetralogy and the concluding post-Imperial volume. And, of course, there are three short stories that could be rounded up into a volume to be read between the Tetralogy and The People Of The Wind. The third of these stories, "Sargasso of Lost Starships," is Imperial and the second, "The Star Plunderer," is a prequel.