(ii) Anderson adds that Harry Turtledove has also presented a treatment of the same idea.
(iii) "The double-page spread on pages 12 and 13, by the way, is a direct steal from Robert Heinlein's novel Magic Incorporated."
-Neil Gaiman discussing The Sandman, issue 4, in Hy Bender, The Sandman Companion (London, 2000), 3, p. 35.
That double-page spread depicts a gathering of all the demons in Hell.
We keep finding Anderson-Gaiman parallels: two great imaginative writers in different media: verbal and visual-verbal.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
You must have a later edition of OPERATION CHAOS than the one I have. My copy is the Doubleday edition of 1971, which doesn't have that preface by Anderson.
I wonder if Anderson's comment about Turtledove also using of "goetic forces" as a technology had the latter's THE TOXIC SPELL DUMP in mind. A story which I've also read.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
My copy is a Severn House Publishers edition, 1995.
Anderson mentions "magic," not "goetics."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Just trying to vary my vocabulary--IIRC Anderson also used "goetic" in OPERATION CHAOS.
Ad astra! Sean
As I said... all art is in conversation with all previous art! Poul did a great expansion of Heinlein's idea... but then, Heinlein -had- the idea, even if he didn't trace all the consequences.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and I too have read WALDO & MAGIC, INC. A pity RAH became such a bore after STARSHIP TROOPERS.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Editors stopped editing him. If you examine his manuscripts, they were much like his later books.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember. RAH was one of those writers who needed editors willing to get tough with him.
Ad astra! Sean
Self-indulgence is a temptation for most writers. I try to guard against it, but editors help.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I'm glad both you and Anderson listen/listened carefully to your editors.
Ad astra! Sean
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