Friday, 3 October 2025

A Prequel And A Sequel II

In A Prequel And A Sequel, we summarized the development of Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series as follows:

Guardians Of Time/The Guardians Of Time

Time Patrolman

The Year Of The Ransom

The Shield Of Time

"Death and the Knight," brief sequel to The Shield...

"Star of the Sea," long prequel to The Year...

The sequence is further complicated by the facts:

first that the opening passage of The Shield... follows directly from the end of "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks," the first of the two stories in Time Patrolman;

secondly that "Star..." refers back to the events of "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," the second story in Time Patrolman. 

The series rearranges itself as it proceeds and has three successive culminations:

history is changed and has to be changed back in "Delenda Est," the concluding story of Guardians...;

history is changed again and the real purpose of the Patrol is revealed in the concluding part of The Shield...;

"Star...," the last long instalment to be written, presents a new slant on variable reality.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

Fortunately, the Time Patrol stories can be enjoyed by readers not too concerned about internal chronology.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

I liked the way random chance increased its role in the Time Patrol stories; ultimately, they had to remove a "chancer magnet" character.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

A tragic, ill-fated character, a man both Manse and Wanda liked and respected.

Ad astra! Sean