Manuel I

By the mid-point of The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, we have read the concluding instalment of the Polesotechnic League sub-series and two short stories about the joint human-Ythrian colonization of the planet, Avalon. Now we come to "The Star Plunderer," the pivotal instalment of the entire Technic History. The League is no more. The Empire is not yet. What happens between them? Manuel Argos! Yet, unlike some other characters whom we have named maybe more often than we needed to, Argos is not a series character but a one-off. He is referred to later, of course, although not very often. I do not think that Hloch mentions him by name in The Earth Book Of Stormgate although, as I sometimes say, I am not about to look that up at this time of night especially since someone else can tell me if I have got it wrong. Manuel's story is introduced by someone else and narrated by another someone else, not by Manuel himself, just as Adzel's introductory story is introduced by Hloch and narrated by James Ching. All this reads like documented history. Read "The Star Plunderer" but read it in (what has become) its rightful place at the mid-point of the Saga, Volume III. It makes far more sense that way.

(This post is dedicated to new blog commentator, TJ Overton. See the combox here.)