Flandry:
"In those days [Aycharych] had claimed that the enigmatic ruins found upon many worlds of that sort were relics of his own people, who ranged and ruled among the stars in an era geologically remote. He claimed.... He's as big a liar as I am, when either of us wants to be. If they did build and then withdraw, why? Where to? What are they upon this night?"
-Poul Anderson, A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra (Riverdale, NY, March 2012), pp. 339-606 AT IX, p. 462.
Tachwyr:
"But Aycharaych died when the Dennitzans bombarded his planet. At least, he vanished, you could never be altogether sure of anything about the Chereionite."
-Poul Anderson, The Game of Empire IN Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT CHAPTER SIX, p. 267.
Is Flandry's question: where are the Chereionites? answered at the end of A Knight... when he finds that Chereion is occupied only by computers, holograms and Aycharaych himself? Is the rest of the race extinct? That answer serves in the absence of any information to the contrary. But such information could have been provided. And the same observation applies to Aycharaych's own disappearance. As the British sf bookseller, Pete Pinto, suggested to Anderson: Aycharaych should return but in an Aycharaych novel, not in a Flandry novel.
14 comments:
Intriguing!
The "Last Martian" theme has been worked over many times, of course; goes back to (at least) Cooper, after all.
Anderson's treatment of the trope was reasonable.
Kaor, Paul!
In a long series spread out over so many years it's almost inevitable there will be gaps, omissions, questions, mysteries, etc. At first this was probably accidental, then Anderson found such mysteries useful, as in Flandry's questions.
Stirling has mentioned that he would love to do a Flandry story if Anderson's estate authorized a second MULTIVERSE, stories based on PA's works. I can think of several possible themes for such a story.
Ad astra! Sean
Has anyone other than AB Chandler ever done a cross-over with the Anderson-Technic-verse?
John Grimes meeting Dominic Flandry made for an entertaining read ...
Kaor, Dave!
I too read that story by Chandler, of Grimes meeting "Flandry," and I was disappointed. Chandler's version was nothing like the real Flandry and was a very unpleasant and unlikable character to boot!
After reading Stirling's "A Slip in Time" and his skillful, even sensitive handling of Manse Everard and the Time Patrol milieu, I'm sure he would do an equally good job with a Flandry story.
Ad astra! Sean
Dave,
Don't know but doubt it. I agree with Sean in disliking the Grimes-Flandry crossover but I can't get into Grimes anyway.
Paul.
I like the Grimes stories myself, except for that one.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I shouldn't let that particular story sour me on all of Chandler's works.
Ad astra! Sean
I liked it; seemed like a fair go, and (I presume?) Anderson did as well, since it was written when he was around.
Chandler, of course, had actually seen the elephant, unlike so many SF writers.
Kaor, Dave!
But assent does not have to mean Anderson approved of Chandler's version of Flandry.
Ad astra! Sean
Presumably, Chandler got Anderson's agreement on doing the story in return for an editorial review. No author with works under copyright is going to let someone else "play" in his sandbox, otherwise. ;)
Actually, a casual "can I borrow your character for a bit?" and a reply of "sure, go ahead" is quite common.
I've done it a few times, and vice versa.
For example, I did that with a character from Harry Turtledove and Judy Tarr's HOUSEHOLD GODS for my upcoming TO TURN THE TIDE, who makes a brief appearance in Ch. 20. Both novels are set in 2nd-century Roman Pannonia, and I thought it would be amusing.
They said "sure".
Nor did they ask for an editorial review, though I offered to run the scene past them as a matter of politeness.
Well, Paul Shackley is the resident Anderson SME. Figured he'd know if anyone does. ;)
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!\
Ha! I remember that bit about your time travelers in that inn, but did not know of its Turtledovian origins.
Ad astra! Sean
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