At the council of the Sidhe:
"Eochy Mac Elathan, the Father of Stars...sat wrapped in a cloak like blue dusk, and bright points of light winked and glittered in it and in his hair and deep within his eyes. When he spread his hands, a little shower of such glints was strewn to dance on the air." (p. 150)
Why have we never noticed this guy before? He reminds us of some guests in the Old Phoenix who:
"...were shadowy and full of small starlike sparkles."
-Poul Anderson, "House Rule" IN Anderson, Fantasy (New York, 1981), pp. 9-20 AT p. 10.
When I began to reread The Broken Sword this time, I had no idea that it was such a rich text. It seems that, in discussing it, we discuss everything else. We have mentioned Shakespeare, Aeschylus, the Elder Edda, Virgil, Neil Gaiman, Stieg Larsson, the New Testament etc.
One more word from the Old Phoenix:
"...keep yourself open to everything, and perhaps, just perhaps, you will have the great luck of joining us in that tavern called the Old Phoenix." (p. 9)
Good advice: keep yourself open to everything. We join them in that tavern if we read two short stories and one novel by Poul Anderson.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I would love to visit the Old Phoenix if that inter-universal inn actually exists! Alas, I doubt I will ever have that privilege. Oh, well.
Ad astra! Sean
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