Tuesday, 31 October 2023

The Vixenite North

We Claim These Stars, CHAPTER XII, p. 77.

I have tried before to summarize Poul Anderson's account of summer in the northern hemisphere of Vixen but maybe missed some details:

snow melts;
wild rivers become lakes which bake dry;
storms hit the equator and parts of the south;
the north becomes arid salt flats and small dreary seas;
fires make pampas barren;
erosive conditions prevent mountains;
furnace winds blow dust and ash over plains;
"gnarled ranges";
"lifeless hills":
"twisted crags";
flash floods carving arroyos into huge scars.

Sometimes Anderson's text is already a summary and cannot be summarized any further. 

Ardazirho headquarters is in a "gnarled ranges" etc region just below the arctic circle, safe from ground attack and dug so far underground as to be almost impregnable to air attack. Flandry sees warships and missile emplacements. He goes willingly into this hell.

2 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

However grim the northern hemisphere of Vixen was, by human standards, it was comfortable enough for the Ardazirho, whose species had evolved on a similar planet.

Ad astra! Sean

DaveShoup2MD said...


True. This is a decent example of Anderson avoiding a planet of hats...