Poul Anderson's "Sargasso of Lost Starships" is a story set against the backdrop of his Technic History future history series and does contribute one link in the causal chain of this fictional history: the Terran Empire, anticipated in the previous instalment, has been founded and is expanding. The story also introduces the Donarrians, the main quadrupeds in the Technic History after the Wodenites, and refers to green-skinned Shalmuans. "Sargasso..." and the previous story, "The Star Plunderer," both refer to the Black Planet as a hereafter for those killed in combat.
However, neither the characters nor the plot of "Sargasso..." have any impact on any subsequent instalments. The story can be read in isolation and might be a fiction within the fiction. I will reread this story shortly but meanwhile am reading through a draft manuscript by a family member.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, "Sargasso" is best understood as a fiction within the fiction of the other Technic stories, a tale written by an unknown author centuries after the Empire arose.
Another point of commonality "Sargasso" has with the other Technic stories is how it mentions Manuel II, grandson of the Founder of the Empire. I think we both wondered if this Emperor was the "Manuel the Wise" mentioned by Aycharaych in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS.
Ad astra! Sean
Indeed.
When I did find and read a copy of "Sargasso", I was disappointed with it, because the quality of stories Anderson wrote later was much higher.
Kaor, Jim!
I didn't think "Sargasso..." that bad, as long as we kept in mind it was one of Anderson's early stories (first pub. by PLANET STORIES, January 1952), written at a time when he was still learning, in many ways, how to write.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, everyone has a learning curve. Except one of my friends, Patricia Finney, who wrote a really good historical novel when she was 17. Grrrrr.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! And, really, the stories Anderson wrote for PLANET STORIES holds up well, being entertaining and interesting page turners.
Ad astra! Sean
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