The Green Of Earth And Home

Let us follow a chain of associations through the works of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, James Blish and Poul Anderson.

"We pray for one last landing
"On the globe that gave us birth;
"Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
"And the cool, green hills of Earth."
-Robert Heinlein, The Green Hills of Earth (London, 1967), p. 141.

Asimov: a story called "Mother Earth."

Blish: a novel called Earthman, Come Home and, in another work, sister planets called "Home" and "Rathe."

"...Homelike splashes of green."
-Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 273.

"...a longing seized her for the cool green hills of home."
-Poul Anderson, For Love And Glory (New York, 2003), p. 178.

I propose the Terrestrial tricolor:

blue for the oceans;
white for clouds;
green for life.

Further, alternative human traditions could be celebrated by an optional symbol in the lower corner of the green band. I favor a red star but expect blog readers to have other ideas.

Marya Goes To Church

"Conspirators on church-bearing planets generally tend to think of churches as safe places for quiet plotting. In Amalfi's universe any planet which sponsored churches probably had a revolt coming to it."
-James Blish, Earthman, Come Home (London, 1963), p. 217.

(Blish agreed with me that that second sentence was ambiguous. Does "...Amalfi's universe..." mean "the universe as perceived by Amalfi" or "back in Amalfi's home galaxy"?)

The Shah of Iran was able to ban and exile all opposition parties but not to close the mosques. Consequently, opposition came to be organized in the mosques and led by mullahs. Places of worship can be centers of subversion and resistance. The police recently raided a Lancaster Spiritualist Church!

I was immediately suspicious when, in SM Stirling's The Stone Dogs (New York, 1990), we read that Marya had become a regular church goer. (p. 357)

Yolande Ingolfsson has an American serf, Marya, although Yolande does not know that, before her capture, Marya was an OSS agent. We read fascinating passages from Yolande's point of view - she momentarily notices something strange in Marya's responses and facial expressions...

Sure enough, we read that the OSS is "'...in contact with Marya again...'" (p. 363) and that "'...Contact's a priest...'" (p. 364) The Draka allow religion to their serfs although they carefully select the priests - but what better way would the OSS have of inserting an agent? And how will Marya's story end?

Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry spent an interesting period as a prisoner of his enemies, the Merseians, but, of course, Flandry covered himself in glory with a dramatic early escape.