Wednesday 22 November 2023

Another Summary V

"Aftermath: The Price of Buying Time."

Avalon fights off the Terran Empire whereas Merseia just fights it: two legacies of David Falkayn, arguably more influential than van Rijn and Flandry combined.

The Terran Empire and the Merseian Roidhunate are compared to the Eastern and Sassanid Empires. 

"Key factors in [the Eastern Empire's] survival were devious intelligence agents and military officers who were hedonists in the capital but heroes in the marches." (p. 244)

Dominic Flandry!

"[The Sassanid's] obsession with hunting and their fiercely romantic masculinity were uncannily Merseian in flavor." (ibid.)

This strikes us as uncanny for a moment until we realize that Sandra Miesel has played a trick on us. The Merseians are fictional beings created many centuries after the Sassanids so there is nothing uncanny about a resemblance between them!

At last, we approach the story of Flandry "buying time."

10 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And the Eastern Empire would not have survived for nearly a thousand years after its Western co-Empire had fallen if decadence had been all it had!

And Terra showed itself to be just as stubbornly unwilling to go gently into oblivion!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

That is a very good question.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Dave!

Never heard of David Bowie before. But I think the artist who did the illustrations for the Ace Books edition of A STONE IN HEAVEN did a very good job of showing us what Flandry looked like. Iow, the artist read the book first before he started drawing!

Ad astra! Sean

DaveShoup2MD said...


Paul - True. ;)

Sean - Come on, seriously?

S.M. Stirling said...

Flandry mentions that his 'biosculpt' made him absurdly handsome. Though he also generally wore a mustache.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Dave and Mr. Stirling!

Dave: Yes, seriously. I have little interest in Hollywood stars! (Smiles)

Mr. Stirling: I remember that. But, I assume the passing of time would have "matured" Flandry's appearance by A STONE IN HEAVEN.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Sean: not necessarily. I get the distinct impression that Technic biotech at that time could retard the visible symptoms of aging.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

Actually, I agree, at least up to a point. We do see mention in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS of antisenescence no longer being able to retard the more visible signs of old age from the duke of Mars. Which makes me think the duke was about 100 years old.

Ad astra! Sean

DaveShoup2MD said...


Bowie did not make his fortune as an actor, of course. Wrote and performed a lot of music, including a couple of pieces that sort of fit the theme of Paul's website. ;)

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Dave!

Good, of course.

Ad astra! Sean