Old Times

We age and remember old times. Therefore, our reflections, fictional characters, do the same. But we can reread their old times. We can read Mirkheim, then reread "The Trouble Twisters," read The Game of Empire, then reread Ensign Flandry and "Tiger by the Tail." If we read Poul Anderson's Technic History in its original publication order, then we read "Margin of Profit" after it was quoted in Trader to the Stars and read "Lodestar" after reading Mirkheim. We find that we have not after all read all that there was to be read about van Rijn, Falkayn, Adzel and Chee Lan. Adzel's student days are even introduced in a fresh new short story narrated by a new young character.

A series about a fictional character is like a fictional biography. In Curtain, Poirot tells Hastings, "They were good times..." Van Rijn and co recall their good times but also plan what they will do next. Life is not over till they are dead - and then the history continues. There are young perspectives in the concluding two stories of the Earth Book. And the whole Flandry period is still in the future.