(i) Poul Anderson's "The Star Plunderer" had a fictional introduction by Donvar Ayeghen when it was first published. Thus, that introduction was always the first part of the text and is republished as such.
(ii) Anderson added introductions to the stories republished in the first three Technic History collections.
(iii) One of these stories, "The Master Key," (see the previous post) is preceded by a Shelley quotation. I do not know whether this was originally there or was added in the collection. In any case, the story has its own internal introducer in the form of an unnamed first person narrator who begins by referring, without elaborating, to an earlier adventure of himself and his friend, Harry Stenvik. He then drops further hints. He has just come from a planet with ammonia in the atmosphere where he had to cope with bullets and dickering. When he tells us what Harry has been doing since their earlier adventure, he adds:
"Myself - but that also is irrelevant." (p. 117)
We appreciate these hints at stories beyond stories. Despite the great length of Anderson's Technic History, there are always stories that have not been told, as in Robert Heinlein's original Future History.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Sometimes we are told things about characters we never see, such as Admiral Kheraskov's remarks about the Empress Dowager in THE REBEL WORLDS. Enough to make us want to know more!
And I still wonder about RAH's never written "The Stone Pillow."
Ad astra! Sean
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