Poul Anderson Appreciation: Kirkasanters And Civilizations with its concluding question and combox
In the Commonalty period of Poul Anderson's Technic History, the Ymirites are where they always were, inhabiting Jovoid planets throughout the galaxy and maybe beyond it. They will be among the xenosophonts that Daven Laure encounters.
The four post-Imperial instalments in the Technic History focus only on human beings. In a SFWA Bulletin article, Anderson acknowledged that it would be interesting to know what had happened to Wodenites, Cynthians etc but never did answer this question.
It is easy to think of the post-Imperial instalments as set in an Asimovian humans-only galaxy but this is a mistake. Merseians, Ymirites etc cannot have ceased to exist and indeed Laure refers to living xenos.
In this post-Imperial sub-series, as in Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation, an interstellar empire has fallen giving way to barbarism followed by a restoration of civilization. Which author does it better? Read both and judge.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
It does now seems a bit odd that we don't see non-humans in even just one of Anderson's four post-Imperial stories!
I think we do see mention of how the Pretender who overthrew the legitimate Shah of Sassania in "A Tragedy of Errors" had non-human mercenaries.
Thanks for linking to my Ymirite article!
Anderson's Technic series, with its rise and fall of a civilization and an interstellar empire is better than Asimov's FOUNDATION books. The former felt vastly more real, organic, and lived in than the latter.
Even if not quite as good as the Technic series, I also think very well of Jerry Pournelle's Co-Dominium stories. Which also included contributions by Stirling and other writers (including Anderson).
Ad astra! Sean
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