incorporates the earlier and later phases of the Maurai Federation of one of Anderson's several future history series as two of the periods visited by the time traveller, Jack Havig;
extends that future history far beyond the three or four centuries of the Maurai Federation;
also reflects on past history, e.g., Caesar And Civilization (not the only example).
Thus, this single short novel conveys a sense of historical and fictive comprehensiveness and concludes on a note of completeness - as do several other works by the same author. By the end of this particular novel, we know that Havig and his time travelling companion, Leonce, have brought about and passed into an interstellar future for mankind and that they will not return from it.
Of course, a sequel could either show us that further future or present a plausible explanation for why Havig does find some reason to return to the twentieth century or earlier. However, time travel narratives based on the circular causality paradox do not invite sequels. When the circle is complete, so is the story.
8 comments:
Caesar was a pivotal figure. Though not as pivotal as his grand-nephew (and adopted son) Octavian.
Octavian did three things: he beat all the other Roman warlords, he did it while he was young, and then he lived into his seventies.
That was what preserved the Roman world from being divided the way Alexander's empire was.
Hail, Octavian.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: We should also keep in mind that ORION SHALL RISE does not fit quite neatly into the background of the three original Maurai short stories and THERE WILL BE TIME.
Mr. Stirling: I think the world was lucky to get Octavian as the man who was able to unify the Roman world, with all the enormous consequences flowing from that.
I sometimes wonder how the Time of Chaos or Warring States era we are in will end. While we should not exaggerate its power Maoist China does nurse global ambitions challenging the post-WW II order led by the US. Any outcome in which the current regime in Peking ends up dominating the would not be good (see Wingrove's CHUNG KUO series).
The best I can think of, realistically, is an Anglosphere around which something like the Solar Commonwealth of Anderson's Technic stories arises to unify the world. Or the United Commonwealths of Anderson/Dickson's Hoka tales.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: demographics more or less rules that out. China has a total fertility rate below 1 child per woman, the labor force started declining nearly two decades ago, and the total population there is both aging rapidly and declining in absolute numbers.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
But a desperate regime in Peking facing demographic collapse might lash out, risking all to make a bid for global domination. That's one way to interpret China's behavior in your TO TURN THE TIDE/THE WINDS OF FATE.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes, that's a distinct possibility. I don't consider it a high probability... but unlikely events happen all the time.
I talked to a lot of female university students when I was in China in 2023. They all said that they had multiple suitors and they -nearly- all said that the suitors were selfish bad-mannered dorks who didn't even -realize- that they were selfish and bad-mannered, and that they didn't intend to marry any of them.
And Chinese marriage rates have been plummeting -- down 20% between 2023 and 2024, for example. Plus a rising divorce rate and very sharply rising age at marriage, which further depresses birth rates.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Not a high probability, China behaving a la TO TURN THE TIDE, but low probability catastrophes do happen.
I have some sympathy for those "...selfish bad-mannered dorks..." The grotesque sexual imbalance, about 15 males to every female, means millions and millions of men have no hope of normal family lives. Despair and frustration will bring out the worse in too many males.
That selfish ill-mannered dorkishness goes back to the hideous years when the regime imposed compulsory abortions on mothers having more than one child. That led to parents selecting sons as their only child--and then spoiling them rotten.
Ad astra! Sean
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