In The Shield Of Time, 1990 A. D., pp. 176-186, Everard and Wanda meet in:
"'The bookshop...'" (p. 178)
- more specifically a high quality second hand bookshop in San Francisco whose proprietor is also a Time Patrol agent.
We have remarked before that anachronistic surroundings, whether old hotels or this particular bookshop, are appropriate settings for time travellers. Most visitors to the bookshop know nothing of time travel. This might best be brought home to readers by a contemporary novel whose characters interact with the bookshop proprietor, Nick, this to be followed by a Time Patrol novel, like indeed The Shield Of Time, showing Nick to be a Patrol agent. Different genres coexist in Poul Anderson's multiverse and their coexistence could be realized more concretely. Aliens, immortals, deities and time travellers walk among us on parallel Earths which means that we also walk among them - so let's see some of Manse Everard's New York neighbours, for example.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
You seem to have done your share of browsing in the Old Pier book shop. One work which regrettably no longer seems to be pub. is John Lingard's HISTORY OF ENGLAND, in the first half of the 19th century. Lingard cared very much about using only accurate/reliable sources. No forgeries for him, unlike Backhouse's stuff!
I also recall how the proprietor of that Patrol front managed the bookstore as a real business, buying and selling old/used books.
Ad astra! Sean
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