A Bleak December

Poul Anderson refined his narrative technique as his Time Patrol series proceeded. Working our way backwards from the very end of the series, narrative passages, or short "chapters," in "Death And The Knight" are headed with place, day of the week and exact date. Thus, the text opens:

"PARIS, TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER 1307"

-Poul Anderson, "Death And The Knight" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 737-765 AT p. 741.

In The Shield Of Time, we are given just a year. Thus, the novel opens:

"1987 A. D."

-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, July 1991), PART ONE, p. 3. 

Before that, in "The Year of the Ransom," passages were headed with an exact date but without either place or day of the week. Thus:

"10 September 1987"

-Poul Anderson, "The Year of the Ransom" IN Time Patrol, pp. 641-735 AT p. 641.

Before that, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" gave us just a year:

"372"

-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Time Patrol, pp. 333-465 AT p. 333 -

- or a period:

"302-330" (p. 379)

"337-344" (p. 395)

"366-372" (p. 426)

Before that, narrative passages were simply numbered. Thus:

"1"

Poul Anderson, "Time Patrol" IN Time Patrol, pp. 1-53 AT p. 1.

This has been a long route back to The Shield Of Time where, on p. 374, we find the heading: 

"1137 A. D."

Patrol agents are still addressing the divergence of the beta timeline but they are also still in the past of that divergence so that their year date does not have to be followed by "beta."

And my only point here is this:

"In the paneled room upstairs, Everard, Tamberly, and Volstrup sat as bleak as the December day outside." (p. 374)

Thus, the heading does not tell us the month but, in this case, the text does. Secondly, it is a perfect example of Anderson's Pathetic Fallacy.

Meditation group in less than an hour.