Monday, 1 June 2026

Inspired By MAGIC, INC.

(i) In the introduction to his collection, Operation Chaos, Poul Anderson writes that Robert Heinlein's Magic, Inc. is set in a world where magic not only works but also is treated matter-of-factly as a set of technologies but that Heinlein did not develop all the possibilities of this idea so Anderson himself developed some further possibilities in his Operation... series.

(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.
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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous1 June 2026 at 18:08

    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

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  2. paulshackley2017@gmail.com1 June 2026 at 18:16

    Sean,

    My copy is a Severn House Publishers edition, 1995.

    Anderson mentions "magic," not "goetics."

    Paul.

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  3. Anonymous1 June 2026 at 18:34

    Kaor, Paul!

    Just trying to vary my vocabulary--IIRC Anderson also used "goetic" in OPERATION CHAOS.

    Ad astra! Sean

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  4. S.M. Stirling2 June 2026 at 16:54

    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.

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  5. Anonymous3 June 2026 at 04:51

    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

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  6. S.M. Stirling3 June 2026 at 17:04

    Sean: Editors stopped editing him. If you examine his manuscripts, they were much like his later books.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4 June 2026 at 04:15

    Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

    I remember. RAH was one of those writers who needed editors willing to get tough with him.

    Ad astra! Sean

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  8. S.M. Stirling4 June 2026 at 13:50

    Self-indulgence is a temptation for most writers. I try to guard against it, but editors help.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5 June 2026 at 06:31

    Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

    I'm glad both you and Anderson listen/listened carefully to your editors.

    Ad astra! Sean

    ReplyDelete