Overlapping Trilogies III

See here.

Ulf Markham is still alive in Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's last Man-Kzin Wars story and is killed in Poul Anderson's first Man-Kzin Wars story. Therefore, all the Pournelle-Stirling stories are set before all the Anderson stories. Simple.

In "Warriors," Larry Niven introduced the kzinti, thus creating a Man-Kzin Wars period in his Known Space future history which also features several human colony planets including Wunderland in the Alpha Centauri system.

In "The Children's Hour," Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling introduced Harald's Terran Bar in Munchen on Wunderland during the kzinti occupation.

In "Iron," Poul Anderson introduced Robert and Dorcas Saxtorph who fly from Sol to Alpha Centauri to negotiate with Commissioner Markham of the Interworld Commission after the kzinti occupation.

In "Inconstant Star," Anderson introduces Tyra Nordbo who meets with Robert Saxtorph in Harald's Terran Bar.

"The Children's Hour" and "The Asteroid Queen" by Pournelle and Stirling show us Markham before he meets Saxtorph. Their "In The Hall of the Mountain King" shows us Tyra before she meets Saxtorph.

And I think I have got that right.

"'...[the kzinti] did invent the gravity polarizer.'" (The Man-Kzin Wars, p. 80)

This was said before it was learned that the kzinti got all their space technology from another race. Many, though not all, of the apparent contradictions in a series can be ironed out by reflecting that most statements are made from particular points of view. In Anderson's Technic History, are the Merseians mammals? See here.

When Saxtorph visits Harald's Terran Bar, it no longer displays a "humans only" sign. Saxtorph reflects:

"Mustn't offend potential customers or, God forbid, local idealists." (Man-Kzin Wars III, p. 175)

Those who object to a "humans only" sign are to be disparaged as "idealists"? I would experience a certain amount of social friction if I were to meet some of Anderson's characters.

There will be more but not tonight.

Some Parallels

In Poul Anderson's Technic History:

one Chereionite telepath works for the Merseians;

a dying Marine says, "'...don't eat me, mother...'" (Captain Flandry, p. 306);

the Ardazirho remind Flandry of wolves;

he interrogates one by sensory deprivation.

In Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's "The Asteroid Queen":

the kzinti are feline;

a few are telepathic;

Harold interrogates one by sensory deprivation;

when allowed to speak, the interrogated kzin says, "'DON'T EAT ME MOTHER...'" (Man-Kzin Wars III, p. 133).

Thus, a few parallels between two future histories. If we assume parallel universes, whether as a fictional premise or as a scientific theory, then there must be some laws governing the parallels. L Sprague de Camp suggested that periods when many world-lines intersect might be periods when it is easier to be transported into the past. Similarly, parallel events might occur at moments when it is easier to travel between universes.

Inter-universal travelers will expect other worlds to be like theirs. A DC Comics super-villain, when told that there was one Earth where no one had acquired any superpowers, thus that in that world the only place to read about superheroes or super-villains was in comic books, not in newspapers, remarked, "Seems unlikely..."

Retrocontinuity

The author(s) of an established future history can inform us about earlier periods of the history in two ways:

(i) installments written later can be set earlier - prequels;

(ii) installments written later can be set later but can divulge for the first time information about earlier periods.

(i) Robert Heinlein described DD Harriman's death before he recounted how Harriman "sold the Moon."

Poul Anderson described Dominic Flandry's career before writing the Young Flandry Trilogy and also described interstellar exploration before interplanetary exploration.

(ii) Heinlein reveals that the Howard Families have existed throughout his Future History, that some Howards were involved in the revolutionary Cabal and that Andy Libby is a Howard.

The Last Flandry novel reveals the existence of the Dakotian and Zacharian communities and also recapitulates some earlier events from a different perspective.

In Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's "The Asteroid Queen," two characters encountered earlier, a United Nations Space Navy general and an oyabun in the Alpha Centauri System, turn out to be members of a Grail Brotherhood that has suppressed knowledge of the Slavers for three centuries. How plausible is this? (Some people think that this is how society is run.) If "The Asteroid Queen" is a canonical part of Larry Niven's Known Space future history, then this Brotherhood exists in the background of every other installment even though not explicitly referenced.

Pseudo-Teleportation?

See Teleportation, "Beam Me Up" and here.

In Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's "The Children's Hour," transfer booths are described as "...instantaneous transportation..." (Man-Kzin Wars II, p. 215) whereas, in the same authors' "The Asteroid Queen," the booths are referred to as "...lightspeed pseudo-teleporation." (Man-Kzin Wars III, p. 80)

Travel via the booths is subjectively instantaneous but objectively lightspeed but how is the teleportation "pseudo-"? I think that any kind of teleportation represents a much higher level of technology than is evidenced elsewhere in this period of the Known Space future history. Does Poul Anderson rationalize it in any way in his contributions to the series?

At present, I am regarding two Man-Kzin Wars trilogies, the first by Pournelle and Stirling and the second by Anderson, as a single sub-series to be analyzed as a unit. Anything said in one of these six works might reverberate in any of the others. The transfer booths are an obvious point to ask questions about. If Anderson had introduced the idea, then he would have devised an appropriate rationalization but how does he respond to transfer booths when they are already present in a shared scenario?

Neutral Advisors

"...Conservors were utterly neutral, bound by their oaths to serve only the species as a whole."
-Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling, "The Asteroid Queen" IN Larry Niven, Ed., Man-Kzin Wars III (New York, 1990), p. 59.

This reminded me of something that I had posted recently. Since I had made a comparison with "a celibate priesthood," I searched the blog for this phrase and found that I had referred to Motie Mediators.

Another comparison could be with a Pak (or human) protector who manages to adopt the entire Pak (or human) species as his kin. On the Ringworld, ghouls make ideal protectors because they must protect all other species as their own food source. I think that Poul Anderson's many imaginary societies include some with neutral advisors loyal to the society as a whole  - if anyone can remember an example?

I learned to practice neutrality as a Careers Advisor. Some pupils at a Catholic school told me that they wanted to leave the school as soon as possible in order to get away from the religion whereas another told me that he wanted to attend a Cardinal Newman College precisely because it was Catholic. I helped each pupil to do what s/he wanted and therefore had to disagree with a Teacher who thought that the pupils should stay at the school.

Echoes

When, in Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's "The Asteroid Queen," a kzinti Conservor of the Ancestral Past recites the Law, the astute reader might hear echoes of:

Merseian religion -

"As the God is Sire to the Patriarch..."
-Larry Niven, Ed., Man-Kzin Wars III (New York, 1990), p. 57.

Merseian social organization -

"...the officer is the hand of the Sire." (ibid.)

and Ythrian religion -

"...the Patriarch bares stomach to the fangs of the God..." (ibid.)

Also, a reference to "'...feral humans in the mountains...'" (p. 58) might remind us that the Draka describe free human beings as feral serfs.

My point of course is not that one work merely imitates the others but that all of these works are worthy of our attention. Kzinti are not just Merseians with feline features instead of green skins. Ythrian psychology and social organization reflect alien biology and physiology. And the Draka are what human beings might become! Read them all.