Stefan Rostomily

Stefan Rostomily was a child during World War II. Thus, his earliest life history overlaps with ours.

"'He knew music and composed some good songs of his own - rowdy but good. They're still being sung out on Mars.'" (The Psychotechnic League, p. 114)

This puts him in the same league as Heinlein's Rhysling and Anderson's Hugh Valland.

A few of his cells were used as a chromosome source for the Rostomily Brotherhood. I have been calling the Brotherhood "clones" although that word did not yet exist when this story was written. And cloning would not have given them all an interest in Shakespeare!

Rostomily was dead at the time of "Un-Man." However, he appears in "Marius," written later but set earlier. Several sf characters, including two others in this future history, have been presented in this way: either a dead character has later been shown while still alive or an older character has later been shown while still young.

"Un-Man," about the Brotherhood, and its sequel, "The Sensitive Man," are each what I call a "proto-series," i.e., two open-ended series could have been written, one about the Un-men, the other about the sensitive men. (Indeed, they would make excellent superheroes.) Instead, Anderson wrote a future history about different aspects of society over time. Within this more comprehensive series, the Un-men and one of the sensitive men get just one instalment each.

Chronology

In January this year, I posted in detail, from here to here, about Poul Anderson's Genesis, a late single volume future history covering geological epochs. This December, I have become entirely focused on the first three installments of Anderson's first future history series, the Psychotechnic History.

In this early period of the Psychotechnic History, Secret Servicemen work for the UN whereas, in a transitional period of Genesis (see here), a gifted woman works alone liaising between humanity and the planet-controlling Artificial Intelligence. Ideas of the future change as we move into it.

"A Chronology Of The Psychotechnic Series" on pp. 283-284 of Poul Anderson, Starship (New York, 1982) is:

"Prepared by Sandra Miesel, based in part on the chronology published by Poul Anderson in Startling Stories, Winter, 1955." (p. 284)

So we do not know how much of the 1982 Chronology is by Anderson and how much by Miesel - unless someone has a copy of that Startling Stories? The 1982 Chronology begins:

1958  World War III
1964   "Marius"
1965  First Conference of Rio makes U.N. world government
1975   Psychotechnic Institute established Expeditions to Mars and Venus, then colonization
2004  "Un-Man"
2009  "The Sensitive Man"

It should read:

1958  World War III, followed by Years of Hunger
1964  "Marius"
1965  First Conference of Rio makes U.N. an instrument of multilateral negotiation
           Years of Madness
1975  as above plus Pilgrims emigrate to Mars
           the Socialist Depression and other economic breakdowns
2004  as above
2009  as above

At the time of "Un-Man":

"'The U.N. is in the process of becoming a federal world government.'" (p. 71)

Scene-Setting

"That morning it rained..."
-Poul Anderson, "Flight To Forever" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 207-288 AT p. 207. (See here.)

"It was raining again..."
-Poul Anderson, "Marius" IN Anderson, The Psychotechnic League (New York, 1981), pp. 13-28 AT p. 13.

These are the opening four words of two fictional narratives. Rain prepares us for a bleak time for the characters. Additionally, "That morning it rained..." prepares us for an important event that day whereas "It was raining again..." implies that times are already bleak. As the opening paragraph of "Marius" continues, it more than confirms this expectation:

the air is cold;
winter is approaching;
the street lights have not been restored - so they have been out for a while;
dusk comes early;
walls are ruined;
tattered people live in caves of rubble;
Etienne Fourre is a Maquisard chief;
he represents France in United Free Europe - so Europe has been unfree?;
he stubs his toe on a cobblestone;
this is painful through his worn-out boot;
he is used to swearing;
his fifty guards wear looted, patchwork uniforms;
their own insignia is a hand-sewn Tricolor;
one has lost an eye;
they are hungry;
food barges may be attacked by river pirates.

Fourre appeals to their national history:

"'Perhaps Rouget de l'Isle stumbled on the same rock while composing the "Marseillaise."'" (ibid.)

Angles

Life is busy so posts are slow. Is that good or bad? Also, I currently lack an angle for posting. Recent angles were:

fictional treatments of war;
viable societies;
degrees of divergence between alternative histories.

I am enjoying SM Stirling's Marching Through Georgia, which is not as horrific as I had feared because the central character, Centurion Eric von Shrakenberg, is sympathetic and also because the text clearly does not endorse Draka oppression. I feel that the Draka are rather naive and simply need to be shown a better way. Eric cannot shake off the callousness of his upbringing. He interrupts a Jannisary about to rape a serf but takes no action against the Jannisary. During combat, he orders that locals be ignored if they are quiet but otherwise should be expended - although he does prevent one of his men from dropping a grenade onto an inoffensive family sheltering in a cellar.

As I said when discussing Ermanaric, if there were a judge of the dead, then he would have to take many factors into account. Street Evangelicals tell me that the Judge will ask not, "Are you guilty of crimes against humanity?" but "Did you accept me as your Savior?" If I did, then genocide will not matter!

Another aspect of Stirling's treatment of war:

"The peculiar smell of fresh destruction was in the air... Ruins needed time to achieve majesty, or even pathos; right after they had been fought over there was nothing but...seediness, and mess." (Marching Through Georgia, pp. 108)

Yes, it would be like that. Stirling seems to have been there. A similar passage in Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History is the description of a dark ruined street at the beginning of "Marius."