An sf fan commented that most writers just tell us that their time travelling characters are in 209 BC or whenever whereas Poul Anderson makes us realize it. In The Shield Of Time, we pass directly from a discussion of variable reality to a description of a house in Bactra in 209 BC but I have already summarized the latter here. The Bactrans do not suspect the temporal forces moving around them.
(Quick breakfast post before long walk by the river in summer weather.)
I agree with what this fan said, Anderson not only TELLS us where time travelers go, he is also capable of making us feel and experience what those times and places felt like. Careful. thorough research, plus imagination, can go very far.
Anderson was also capable of making readers feel what it will very likely BE to experience totally fictional extraterrestrial planets. Which is harder to do, in some ways, than it is for actual, historical locations and eras on Earth.
Getting near the end of WAR OF THE GODS, then I'll probably begin rereading the Time Patrol stories.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with what this fan said, Anderson not only TELLS us where time travelers go, he is also capable of making us feel and experience what those times and places felt like. Careful. thorough research, plus imagination, can go very far.
Anderson was also capable of making readers feel what it will very likely BE to experience totally fictional extraterrestrial planets. Which is harder to do, in some ways, than it is for actual, historical locations and eras on Earth.
Getting near the end of WAR OF THE GODS, then I'll probably begin rereading the Time Patrol stories.
Ad astra! Seam
Sean,
Frederick Forsyth is also noted for thorough research although of contemporary matters.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul! And I've gotten interested enough that I want to look up at least two of Forsyth's book: ICON and THE DEVIL'S ALTERNATIVE. Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Read them all.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Trying again. I don't know about ALL of Forsyth's books, but I'm interested in some of them.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment