"Day of Burning" and A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows are linked across several centuries. Life was hard on Merseia because the planet was modernizing and moving into space at the same time as it had to be protected from supernova radiation and there was a three-sided struggle for power between Vachs, Gethfennu and nations like the Republic of Lafdigu. Merseian immigrants were welcome on the human colony planet, Dennitza. Able to stand cold better than human beings, they do most of the fishing and pelagiculture, especially on the eastern seaboard of the main continent, Rodna. They are organized in Vachs and have their own House in the Shkoptsina, Parliament. Kossara remembers a gruff welcome at the campfire of great green hunters and is overcome by emotion. After Abrams' and Flandry's (fully justified) hostility to the Roidhunate, Anderson's account of inter-species harmony on Dennitza is welcome indeed. It is hard to choose but I think that Dennitza is my favourite planet in the Technic History. Its place names are resonant:
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Aeneas, Hermes, Unan Besar, and Dennitza are probably the most carefully thought out and described human colonized planets in the Technic series. And I have more than once thought the political system seen on Dennitza summarizes what Anderson believed would be the optimum most likely to work for humans.
I did not include Avalon in the above list because it was not predominantly a human colonized planet.
I know "grad" means "city/town" in Serbic. And I've wondered who or what was "Zorka." Think of "Petrograd" during the last years of Tsarist Russia.
But nobody would forbid you from reading the Bible or Christian prayer books in St. Clement's cathedral!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
And I would read them with interest.
It is good to feel welcomed or accepted in other people's places of worship. In London, after taking off my shoes, I sat at the back of the men's prayer room in the Central Mosque while my Muslim companions prayed. That is when it occurred to me that Buddhists could sit around the walls facing the wall while Muslims stood, knelt and prostrated on the large open floor between the walls. (We could discuss our differences afterwards if we wanted to.)
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And maybe have a conversation with one of the priests assigned to that St. Clement's Cathedral.
I looked up the link to that other church dedicated to St. Clement in Prague. It looks so small that I wondered how it could be called a cathedral.
I prefer to think the St. Clement's in Zorkagrad looked far more like Westminster Cathedral, not far from the Victoria Underground station. It was built in a neo-Byzantine style which I greatly admired. My favorite Catholic church during my visits to London. Not sure if you ever visited it.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I have visited Westminster Cathedral and up its tower (which was the scene of a murder in a feature film) but a long time ago.
In Birmingham, there is an Anglican parish church which was upgraded to Cathedral status but physically remains a normal sized church.
I wood welcome conversation with clergy.
Paul.
would
Kaor, Paul!
Good, we both visited Westminster Cathedral and its campanile. Did you also visit the Paulist bookstore next door? I have!
Been to Birmingham as well, and visited the Catholic St. Chad's Cathedral, built in a "brick Gothic" style. I know brick is cheaper than stone, but I don't think it goes well with Gothic, alas.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I would probably have looked in the bookshop if it was there then but I cannot remember after all this time.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I think the structure looked fairly new when I browsed there. So it might not yet have been built at the time of your visit.
Ad astra! Sean
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