I have never seen a copy of Poul Anderson's The Year Of The Ransom as a single volume, as it was originally published. I have it as collected in The Time Patrol/Time Patrol.
The text does not immediately inform its readers that it is an instalment of the Time Patrol series. It begins with a contemporary setting. The story is copyright 1988. Its opening narrative passage is headed 10 September 1987.
The first person narrator is a new character and female and not, or at least not yet, involved with the Time Patrol. It is appropriate that a narrative that will soon turn out to be science fiction is set in the Galapagos Islands, refers to Darwin Station and shortly informs us that:
"...it was the Galapagos finches that helped Darwin understand how life works through time." (p. 644)
("...works through time..." helps to prepare us for time travel.)
References to seminal figures like Darwin or Einstein establish a scientific background for a science fictional narrative - even when Einstein is immediately contradicted as the characters travel faster than light or backwards in time!
When I was at school, I read many paperback sf novels. Some titles and authors' names are forgotten. One such work began by introducing its viewpoint character and informing us that his hair was going back so fast you would think that his nose was radioactive! Like Darwin or Einstein, "radioactive" is a good opening move. It establishes that these are characters who are used to dealing with scientific processes like radioactive decay.
Something that regular readers will recognize as a Time Patrol timecycle soon materializes above our heroine's head. We are on our way.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
To me any mention of the Galapagos of how, far too long ago, I read Herman Melville's "The Encantadas," a series of very interesting stories set in those islands. A pity, IIRC, no mention is made of Melville in "The Year of the Ransom."
Ad astra! Sean
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment