Flandry On Vixen

Dominic Flandry, organizing Vixenite resistance to Ardazirho invaders, knows that an effective "underground" needs cells, frequently changed passwords and widely separated hiding places. (Here is a different meaning of the word "Underground" from the one quoted in a recent post.)

I recently mentioned World War II (WWII). The Ardazirho occupation of Vixen puts Flandry very much into a WWII scenario without going as far as to transport him to Occupied France via time travel. But there are always science fictional elements:

Flandry is "...trained to tell faces apart, even nonhuman faces -" (Sir Dominic Flandry, p. 223);

the invaders have a keener sense of smell than man;

they control crowds not with hounds but with "...batsnakes..." (p. 219);

they walk differently, not hitting the ground with boot-heels but clicking with metallic toes;

their chief officer is not a Commandant but a Clanmaster;

the Ardazirho have no discernible uniforms because their recently unified planet still has disparate clans;

to capture the Clanmaster in Garth alive, Flandry must knock him out with a knuckleduster because an anaesthetic might be fatal.

(With ten minutes still to go, today has nearly as many (133) page views as yesterday (138) although this is the first post for today. I have been busy with other activities and will be increasingly so till Christmas.)

A Flandry Tetralogy

Poul Anderson's "A Handful of Stars" (1959) was lengthened as We Claim These Stars! (1959), then re-entitled "Hunters of the Sky Cave." At the beginning of "Hunters...," Flandry, in the Solar System, says that he has returned Home after the Nyanza business, i.e., after the events of "The Game of Glory." (1958) A few pages later, Aycharaych says:

"'Congratulations upon your handling of l'affaire Nyanza... We are going to miss A'u on our side.'"
-Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandery: The Last Knight Of Terra (New York, 2012), p. 160 -

- thus confirming that the events of "...Glory" immediately preceded those of "Hunters..."

Early in "...Glory," Flandry "...discovered how to lie to a telepath." -Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 303. Thus, the entire contents of "Honorable Enemies," (1951) Flandry's first meeting with Aycharaych, occur between the beginning and the end of "...Glory."

In "Honorable Enemies," Flandry is referred to as "'...the single-handed conqueror of Scothania...'" -Captain Flandry, p. 280. This happened in "Tiger by the Tail." (1951)

Thus, these four works:

"Tiger by the Tail" (1951)
"Honorable Enemies" (1951)
"The Game of Glory" (1958)
"Hunters of the Sky Cave" (1959)

- form a continuous tetralogy although they are not presented as such in the Chronology of Technic Civilization. Flandry captures Aycharaych at the end of "Hunters..." but the Merseians insist on a prisoner exchange, so the story of Flandry versus Aycharaych continues.

A Fascinating Artefact

The Crystal Moon, a large, transparent artificial satellite constructed a hundred years previously for Lord Tsung-Tse, then sold by his son for gambling debts, was bought by the then Merseian ambassador who moved it into the Jovian system which belongs to the Dispersal of Ymir, not to the Terran Empire. Massive artificial rubies, emeralds, diamonds and topazes are held in orbit around the Moon by planar gravity fields. Spaceship passengers enter the Moon through transparent tubes.

On the Moon's surface, a domed zero gee conservatory holds a single large sphere of water surrounded by a jungle of mutant ferns and orchids. Tropical fish and visitors to the Moon swim in the water. (In an Arthur C Clarke story, a satellite hotel has a similar zero gee spherical swimming pool but Clarke's version additionally encloses a bubble of air large enough to contain a bar serving drinks to swimmers.) Aycharaych of Chereion, descended from birds, glides gracefully through the zero gee air.

When Dominic Flandry walks through the central part of the Moon with its artificial gravity field, Orion is beneath him.

The current Merseian ambassador buys human slaves to serve in the Moon. The Terran Empire is so decadent that it has not only revived slavery but also allows the sale of human slaves to a Merseian. Would such a slave retain any loyalty to the Empire if her owner involved her in his race's plans to overthrow that Empire?

Flandry's Office

When Dominic Flandry is a Captain of Naval Intelligence serving under Vice Admiral Fenross, he has an office! - although we see him in it only once. While in his office, he dictates into a recorder although a confidential secretary will make a formal report from his dictation. Through a clear wall, he sees the softly colored "...slim faerie spires..." of Admiralty Center (Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry (New York, 2012), p. 189).

Flandry reflects that the Terran Space Navy, guarding a 400 light year diametered sphere of space, has millions of ships requiring millions of policy makers, scientists, engineers, strategists, tacticians, coordinators and clerks whose families need food, clothing, houses, schools and amusements so that Admiralty Center has become a city and even a "...company town..." (p. 190).

Later in the series, we are told that the Terrestrial globe has become a single city. Thus, both the capital, Archopolis, and Admiralty Center, the latter in the Rocky Mountains, are two regions of this one city.

We do speak of spaceships so maybe future terminology will speak of space warships as organized into a Navy with Admirals and an Admiralty? However, it is to be hoped that such armed conflicts will have become a thing of the past long before any rational species come to be equipped with fleets of faster than light spacecraft.

Andersonian Paragraphing by Sean M Brooks

It is my considered opinion that the late Poul Anderson was one of the greatest of all science fiction writers. I would like to mention in particular his skillful writing of opening paragraphs.

What is a paragraph? I'll answer that question by quoting from page 328 of the HARBRACE COLLEGE MANUAL (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1941, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1972): "A paragraph is a distinct unit of thought -- usually a group of related sentences, though occasionally no more than one sentence -- in a written or printed composition. The form of a paragraph is distinctive: the first line is indented. The content of a unified paragraph deals with one central idea. Each sentence fits into a logical pattern of organization and is therefore carefully related to other sentences in the paragraph."

I'll next quote the opening paragraphs of three or more of Poul Anderson's books to demonstrate examples of especially striking and effective opening paragraphs.

From THE BROKEN SWORD, Chapter 1 (Abelard, 1954):

"There was a man called Orm the Strong, a son of Ketil Asmundson who was a great landsman in the north of Jutland. The folk of Ketil had dwelt in Himmerland as long as men remembered, and were mighty landowners. The wife of Ketil was Asgerd, who was a leman-child of Ragnar Hairybreeks. Thus Orm came of good stock, but as he was the fifth living son of his father there could be no large inheritance for him."

The chief point of interest in the text quoted was how Poul Anderson modeled it on the Norse sagas. The strong genealogical orientation should be noted. Also, the story develops from the fact Orm could not hope for a large share of his father's estate. And of the means Orm chose for remedying that.

From WE CLAIM THESE STARS! (Ace, 1959), Chapter I:

"It pleased Ruethen of the Long Hand to give a feast and ball at the Crystal Moon for his enemies. He knew they must come. Pride of race had slipped from Terra, while the need to appear well-bred and sophisticated had waxed correspondingly. The fact that spaceships prowled and fought fifty light years beyond Antares, made it all the more impossible a gaucherie to refuse an invitation from the Merseian representative. Besides, one could feel delightfully wicked and ever so delicately in danger."

This paragraph arouses many questions and thoughts. Who exactly were Ruethen and the Merseians? Why did he subtly mock his enemies by giving them a feast and ball? Where and what were the Crystal Moon? Why had "pride of race" slipped from Terra? The comment about fifty light years beyond Antares suggests enormous distances. And a sense of decadence is suggested for Terrans. The paragraph is designed to entice readers to continue so they will find the answers to these questions.

From A CIRCUS OF HELLS (1969, rpt. Gregg Press, 1979), Chapter I:

"The story is of a lost treasure guarded by curious monsters, and of captivity in a wilderness, and of a chase through reefs and shoals that could wreck a ship. There is a beautiful girl in it, a magician, a spy or two, and the rivalry of empires. So of course -- Flandry was later tempted to say -- it begins with a coincidence."

This paragraph also inspires many thoughts. The paragraph gives a good cryptic summary of the entire book without giving away details. What lost treasure was guarded by curious monsters? Who were the spies, the beautiful girl, the magician, and the rival empires?

It is my opinion that the three examples quoted above are excellent specimens of Poul Anderson's skill in writing opening paragraphs. Consciously or not they make the readers ask questions and lures them on to read further.

Religion in Poul Anderson II

This is a second short extract from "CS Lewis and James Blish" (here) with a cover illustration of Flandry and Aycharaych added.

Returning briefly to Anderson’s Technic History, whose religious themes we have by no means exhausted, red-blind beings, unable to see the light of a proto-sun from within a nearby nebula, regard the, to them, entirely dark nebula as the Sky Cave and the Gate of the Dead. 

Aycharaych manipulates this race’s leaders by meeting them on a nebular proto-planet. While exploiting other races’ religions, Aycharaych himself sees meaning in mystery and death as a completion. He pities God, the immortal and omniscient. (The Chereionites, who were also the Ancients, were not necessarily theistic. Aycharaych, the last Chereionite, might speak figuratively either because he works for Merseia or because, in the Sky Cave, he addresses the terrestrial, Flandry. As a telepath, he knows how to influence his opponents.)