The Earth Book of Stormgate (as I have indeed said before)...
is both the fifth Polesotechnic League volume and the second Ythrian volume;
completes the history of the League;
almost completes the history of human-Ythrian interactions;
refers to the Terran Empire although not to Dominic Flandry because he has not been born yet.
(Thus, a lot of ground already covered plus a lot more still to be covered.)
The Day Of Their Return...
follows the Young Flandry Trilogy;
at last completes recorded human-Ythrian history.
The Night Face and Other Stories...
follows the remaining five volumes of the Flandry period;
collects the four post-Imperial instalments.
As I say every time, what a future history series!
11 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And "Outpost of Empire" should be collected with THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN in any COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON. Albeit I'm now undecided if "Outpost" should immediately precede or follow DAY.
I would still argue for titling any collecting of the last four (in terms of internal chronology) Technic stories THE POST-IMPERIAL ERA. And the original texts of the five Technic stories PA revised/expanded should be included as an appendix.
Ad astra! Sean
Seems like "The Longest Voyage" could fit as a post-collapse story as well, unless there's a reference in the text that I missed.
Also seems like if Anderson had been so inclined, at least some of the stories in the "History of Rustum" group could have been retconned without much effort into the universe of the pre-Van Rijn/ Polesotechnic stories.
As best I recall "The Longest Voyage" that would fit into any situation where a human colony world had a collapse of technical civilization & remained isolated for many centuries. So that would include the post Terran Empire period.
I don't see how to fit the History of Rustum stories into the Technic Civilization series because there isn't a centuries long period of STL interstellar travel before an FTL drive is invented/discovered.
Kaor, Dave and Jim!
Dave: I commented in another combox my view "The Longest Voyage" contains nothing directly linking it to the Technic series.
Jim: Broadly speaking I am opposed to the trend some readers have for linking together all the stories of their favorite writers. Some stories/novels are best understood as either stand alone works or independent series. Such as the History of Rustum series. That seems to have been Anderson's preferred rule.
The only exception to that general rule by Anderson was how Nicholas van Rijn was seen in the Old Phoenix inn in "House Rule." Which of course "links up" the Technic series with "Losers' Night," the two OPERATION books, and A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST.
I am very glad Anderson never tried to link up his Time Patrol stories with any other series. It would have been too easy to make a hopeless mess of any such attempted linking up.
Ad astra! Sean
Addendum: I forgot to add THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS to the list in the third paragraph of my comment immediately above.
Sean
Jim - So it might not "connect," but is there anything that "excludes"? ;)
DaveShoup2MD
I'm not sure which story you mean in your lastest comment.
So.
I don't see anything that excludes "The Longest Voyage" from being set in the post Empire period of the Technic Series, or being set in the post Polesotechic League period on some world well beyond the limits of the Terran Empire.
"The History of Rustum" has quite a few centuries of STL interstellar travel with no FTL ever discovered in the timeline. The Technic history has an FTL drive invented within 2 or 3 centuries of when the stories were written, so the two future histories are incompatible.
Kaor, Dave and Jim!
Both: I would rather not forcibly shoehorn "The Longest Voyage" into the Technic series. The rather vague allusions to the "Galactic" culture makes me think it was different enough from the Technic that it would be a strain suspending disbelief.
Ad astra! Sean
I should have said that although nothing logically excludes "The Longest Voyage" from being part of the Technic History, there is no reason to put it in to that history.
Kaor, Jim!
Exactly!
But there was one story Anderson wrote which I regret is not part of the Technic series: "Kyrie."
Ad astra! Sean
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