A Rich History

When Poul Anderson collected twelve Technic History instalments as The Earth Book of Stormgate, he added twelve new fictional introductions and one new fictional afterword, thus thirteen new albeit brief pieces of writing by Anderson, substantially enriching the Technic History by creating the Avalonian Ythrian editor, Hloch of Stormgate Choth, who explains the origins and fictional authorship of the twelve narratives. When, later, these twelve instalments were collected with twelve others as The Technic Civilization Saga, Volumes I-III (of VII), the works that had been in the Earth Book retained their new introductions and their afterword appeared after the twelfth of these stories at the mid-point of Volume III.

This rearrangement of the instalments into fictional chronological order generated intriguing anachronisms, e.g., the Terran War on Avalon is mentioned in Hloch's opening introduction which appears early in Volume I although the War itself is not described until the last instalment collected in Volume III.

Hloch's afterword, less than a page in length, states:

"Now The Earth Book of Stormgate is ended."

-Poul Anderson, AFTERWORD in Anderson, Rise of the Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), p. 323.

- and ends:

"Fair winds forever." (ibid.)

Thus, this short passage retains its status as an afterword not just to the story that it follows, "Rescue on Avalon," but also to Hloch's entire Earth Book, although the latter's contents are now scattered across three volumes of the Saga.

When Anderson's "The Star Plunderer" was originally published, it already had an introduction fictitiously written by Donvar Ayeghen, President of the Galactic Archaeological Society. Since "The Star Plunderer" immediately follows "Rescue on Avalon" in the Saga, Volume III, readers have this rich future historical experience. They read, in this order:

"Rescue on Avalon," about the colonization of the Coronan continent on Avalon;

Hloch's afterword;

Ayeghen's introduction;

"The Star Plunderer," which is Admiral John Reeves' account of Manuel Argos, Founder of the Terran Empire.

If there is a richer future history series anywhere in sf, I would like to know about it.