EARTH BOOK And Flandry

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, the Terran Empire:

is first mentioned as a possible successor to the Solar Commonwealth and the Polesotechnic League by Chee Lan in "Lodestar";

is next mentioned by Manuel Argos who announces that he will found the Empire in the wake of the fall of the Commonwealth - and also of the League although that is not explicitly mentioned here - in "The Star Plunderer";

annexes Ansa in "Sargasso of Lost Starships";

wages war against its post-League counterpart, the Domain of Ythri, in The People Of The Wind -

- four works that delineate a historical process.

On this basis, The Earth Book Of Stormgate prepares the way for the pivotal Flandry period of the Terran Empire. On the one hand, the Earth Book is fictitiously compiled during the aftermath of the Terran-Ythrian War, thus in the pre-Flandry Imperial period. On the other hand, the Earth Book backtracks to complete the histories both of the Polesotechnic League and of human-Ythrian colonization of Avalon. Although the Earth Book cannot refer to a character who has not yet been born, readers know that the Terran Empire first appeared in the earlier-published Captain Flandry series. Thus, it is no surprise when the Earth Book is followed by Ensign Flandry.

The Earth Book also includes "Day of Burning" which sets the scene for the Terran-Merseian conflict that permeates the Flandry period. Young Flandry of Terra and young Tachwyr of Merseia meet in Ensign Flandry. Both beings, now aged, are still involved in interstellar affairs in the concluding Flandry Period volume, The Game Of Empire. We feel that we live and breathe history.