I have found a typo that has survived through two editions.
"Dalgetty's eyes roved the apartment. It was a rear cabin in a large airboat, luxuriously furnished with reclining seats and an inlaid table. A broad window looked out on the stairs."
-Poul Anderson, "The Sensitive Man" IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League (Riverdale, NY, October 2017), pp. 103-157 AT III, p. 117.
Checking Poul Anderson, "The Sensitive Man" IN Anderson, The Psychotechnic League (New York, September 1981), pp. 131-198, we find the same paragraph with the same concluding word at III, p. 148. I do not remember whether I noticed this on previous readings.
Any future Complete Psychotechnic History should:
lose the "League" from its title;
include both the short and the long versions of Virgin Planet;
include The Peregrine;
look out on the stars.
3 comments:
Yup, you never get them all. People see what they expect.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I too immediately thought the correct reading was "stars"!
Mr. Stirling: Until some eagle eyed reader pounces on a typo and writes to you about it!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I too have a copy of Vol. 1 of THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE, and page 117 also has "stairs" in the paragraph you quoted. Plus, I have a copy of THE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE (Pinnacle/Tor, First Printing, June 1981). And on page 148 the same paragraph from "The Sensitive Man" also has "stairs." Context makes it plain "stars," not "stairs" was meant.
Any COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON should correct as many errors of this kind as possible.
Interested readers might look up my article "How Many Heads Do Ymirites Have?" where I discussed a really intriguing textual oddity in HUNTERS OF THE SKY CAVE.
Ad astra! Sean
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