The Unicorn Trade

The Unicorn Trade by Poul and Karen Anderson (New York, 1984) has two pages of acknowledgments but no contents page. Since the contents are of different types (prose and verse; fiction and non-fiction), lengths (some of the verses are haikus) and authorships (Poul, Karen or Poul & Karen), it is necessary to leaf through the book to find out exactly what is in it. I have ascertained that there are eight pieces of prose fiction either written or co-written by Poul.

I have already discussed "A Feast for the Gods" by Poul and Karen as what I call "gods fiction." (Ghost stories treat ghosts as real; gods stories treat gods as real.) The Anderson's King of Ys Tetralogy is historical fiction with elements of fantasy, including some gods fiction: the Olympians and the Three of Ys withdraw before the new God that is to be in the Age of the Fish. Later, in Poul Anderson's The Merman's Children, Christian exorcism expels the last merfolk from Europe in the fourteenth century. In these cases, however, the gods, while influencing human affairs, remain off-stage so that these novels are not in your face gods fiction.

"Fairy Gold" by Poul Anderson was first published in The Unicorn Trade. Like "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, this story ends when morning sunlight transforms fairy gold into dry leaves.

In a single night, when each of the human characters has a different reason for haste:

for killing a troll, Arvel Tarabine receives a large coin of fairy gold from the elf Irrendal who advises him to spend it that very night;

Zulio Pandric the banker, who recognizes fairy gold and knows its properties, gives Arvel not the 400 aureats that the coin is worth but 350 which is enough for what Arvel wants, to buy his passage on an expedition to the New Lands;

Natan Sandana the jeweler gives Zulio 400 aureats' worth of gems for the coin;

Natan buys pearls from a Norrener merchant with the coin;

the merchant gives the coin to a courtesan in return for her services in future;

the courtesan buys a large house from a scholar;

the scholar, who wants to marry, buys Lona Grancy's pottery business and cottage;

Lona had broken off her engagement to Arvel because of his unrealistic attitude but now takes the coin to him to buy their passage on the, previously unrealistic, expedition;

Arvel already has enough for their passage which is fortunate because the sun rises on the coin...

The story is set in an unspecified other world or realm with unfamiliar place names and temples instead of churches so I think that it counts as a parallel universe narrative. I also think that it connects with some other Poul Anderson short stories but I will confirm or disconfirm this by rereading further.

Natan reads the verses of Cappen Varra and a story, classed as "A-Historical," in another Anderson collection is called "The Valor of Cappen Varra" so there is a trail to follow here.

(In The Sandman, the first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream is to Auberon's court. Asked for payment, Auberon replies, "You ask Auberon of the fay for gold? Very well, you shall have your gold." Despite what happens to the coins next morning, Shakespeare thinks that his company has been well paid by playing to such an audience.)

Cappen Varra

The second of Poul Anderson's Cappen Varra short stories, "The Gate of the Flying Knives," which I am reading in Anderson's collection, Fantasy (New York, 1981), was originally published in the anthology, Thieves' World (see first image), and is set in a city called Sanctuary. Since googling reveals the existence of a Thieves' World novel called Sanctuary (see second image), I deduce that the two Cappen Varra stories and their sequel, "Fairy Gold," are set in this shared universe of the "Thieves' World." Cappen remarks that "'...Shalpa, patron of thieves...has the most devotees of any.'" (p. 114) (If Shalpa is indeed the patron of thieves, then he is a Thieves' World counterpart of Hermes and St Dismas.)

Having read "Fairy Gold" first, not originally knowing the order of the stories, I was pleased, when I started to read the opening story, "The Valor of Cappen Varra," to recognize place names like "Norren" (p. 124). As in several much longer series, Anderson quickly establishes the sense of a familiar, consistent background for the activities of diverse characters like, in this case, Arvel Tarabine and Cappen Varra.

Cappen is a humorous villainous hero:

"Cappen said nothing. If she wanted to think that he had come especially to rescue her, he would not be so ungallant as to tell her otherwise." (p. 95)

"...of course, if she wanted to think he was being magnanimous, it could be useful later -" (p. 98)

I have commented more than once both on Anderson's rich vocabulary and on his "list descriptions" of busy, bustling street scenes. Here, vocabulary-wise, we have:

"'...a theomachy...'" (p. 124);
"'...her coadjutrix...'" (p. 125);
"'...your inamorata...'" (p. 125).

These are all easily googled.

I think that "'...a sikkintair...'" (p. 126) is a denizen of Thieves' World as hobbits and Balrogs are of Middle Earth and as Marshwiggles are of Narnia.

Here are some descriptive lists:

(i) "Merchants, artisans, porters, servants, slaves, wives, nomads, courtesans, entertainers, beggars, thieves, gamblers, magicians, acolytes, soldiers, and who knew what else..." (pp. 102-103);

(ii) - and, continuing the same sentence, "...mingled, chattered, chaffered, quarreled, plotted, sang, played games, drank, ate, and who knew what else." (p. 103);

(iii) - next sentence, "Horsemen, cameldrivers, wagoners pushed through..." (p. 103).

The description continues, though with less lists. Music, vendors, neighbors and devotees each get a sentence or a clause to themselves. But then the street scene closes with a list of smells:

(iv) "...of flesh, sweat, roast meat and nuts, aromatic drinks, leather, wool, dung, smoke, oils, cheap perfume." (p. 103)

We are told that, "Ordinarily, Cappen Varra enjoyed this shabby-colorful spectacle..." (p. 103), although today he is preoccupied.

As ever, Poul Anderson celebrates human activity and life.

The Armies Of Elfland

Poul Anderson's The Armies Of Elfland (New York, 1992) is a truly redundant volume. It collects eight stories although all of them had appeared in earlier collections.

"The Queen Of Air And Darkness" is in The Queen Of Air And Darkness And Other Stories, Winners, The Book Of Poul Anderson and New America but really belongs in the same volume as the eight Rustum stories because it is set in the same future history timeline.

"House Rule," "The Tale of Hauk," "The Valor of Cappen Varra," "The Gate of the Flying Knives" and "The Barbarian" are in Fantasy.

"Fairy Gold" and "A Feast for the Gods" are in The Unicorn Trade (co-written by Karen Anderson).

"Fairy Gold" belongs in the same volume as "Cappen Varra" and "Flying Knives" but should come after them, not before as here.

In the Armies Of Elfland introduction to "Flying Knives," Anderson says that, although this story brings back Cappen Varra, it was his, Anderson's, first contribution to the Thieves' World series. Thus, the first Varra story was not conceived as set in Thieves' World whereas the second was. Thus, the latter contains both a character and a city that appear in Thieves' World volumes by other authors.

The Armies Of Elfland has a good cover by Dieter Rottermond and a short Foreword on Romance by Anderson.

Rules, Riddles And Radioactivity

Three Hearts And Three Lions, CHAPTER TWELVE.

Different works of fantasy can have different rules of magic. I think that it is standard that trolls emerge only at night because sunlight would transform them into stone whereas this is not usually the case with giants although it is what happens to the giant Balamorg in Three Hearts And Three Lions where all Middle Worlders are vulnerable to sunlight - and dwarfs are not Middle Worlders. We learn the precise rules in each new narrative.

In a riddling contest with Balamorg, Holger invents an excellent alternative answer to "'Why does a chicken cross the road?'" (p. 76) (There was also a riddle contest in Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Star Prince Charlie.)

Fairy gold becomes dead leaves in sunlight. Gold from the petrified Balamorg's pouch becomes radioactive because the transformation of his carbon into silicon has generated a radioactive isotope. There is "...a curse on the plunderer of a sun-stricken giant..." (p. 80) The spine of my Three Hearts... says SF. Do these scientific rationalizations transform fantasy into sf?

Jamie The Red

Maybe everyone else out there already knew this but I certainly did not. When, in "The Gate of the Flying Knives" (Poul Anderson, Fantasy, New York, 1981), Anderson's character, Cappen Varra, receives help from his friend, Jamie the Red, that friend is a Thieves' World character in his own right and is even the title character of a novel by two other authors (see attachment).

Googling for images to illustrate posts reveals connections that I was unaware of. Because Anderson's "Fairy Gold," in The Unicorn Trade, referred to Cappen Varra, I set out to reread the two Varra stories in Fantasy, then realized that the second of these stories had originally been published in Thieves' World - and the interconnections proliferated from there. Googling "sikkintair" disclosed a reference to a "Jamie" so I checked to see whether this might be the same Jamie. And so on.

The more we delve into Poul Anderson's works, the more there is to be found in them. I have said this before but I continually rediscover it.

At present, I want to continue rereading Anderson's own works, not anyone else's, but I am also aware of his overlaps with Isaac's Universe, Asimov's Robot stories, Thieves' World, the Man-Kzin War period of Larry Niven's Known Space future history, the War World period of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history, the planets called Cleopatra and Murasaki and I think a couple of other sf series that he has contributed to?

In fact, I have just found online the text of a Berserker story by Anderson.

Cross-Temporal Cheese Cake

Life is immediately experienced, then fictionally reflected. Thus, after eating cheese cake with ice cream in the Spaghetti House, I speculated about restaurants in Gotham City, the Solar Commonwealth and Archopolis. See Restaurants. I was reminded of this when Mikael Blomkvist and his colleagues ate cheesecake decorated with raspberry ice cream in Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Poul Anderson fans should also read:

Larsson's contemporary high tech Scandinavian thrillers;

SM Stirling's alternative histories (with their many "foodie" moments);

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman graphic novels with their Inn of the Worlds' End, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Oberon and Titania, fairy gold, immortal Englishman, Augustus Caesar, Odin, Thor, Loki, Hell, Marco Polo etc.

On The Track Of Cappen Varra

Fantasy (New York, 1981), a collection by Poul Anderson, comprises:

two stories and one satirical piece under the heading, "Historical";
three stories and one article under the heading, "A-Historical";
four stories, one article and one satirical piece under the heading, "It Could Happen To You";
an Afterword that seems to be part of the third section and that, when we turn to it, turns out to be by Anderson expert, Sandra Miesel.

This is far too mixed up. The various items would have to go into different volumes of any Complete Works.

In "Historical":

"House Rule" is an Old Phoenix inn between the worlds story that belongs in an alternative timelines/parallel universes collection;
"The Tale of Hauk" is a historical fantasy that belongs in a collection of stories set in various past periods;
"Of Pigs And Men," the satirical piece, belongs in a non-fiction, or at least non-narrative, collection.

In "A-Historical":
the article should be in a non-fiction collection;
the stories should indeed be in a Fantasy collection;
of these, the two Cappen Varra stories should be placed before "Fairy Gold" which is not here but which does refer to Cappen Varra.

In "It could Happen To You":
the article and the satirical piece should be in a non-fiction collection;
of the stories, "Interloper" and, I think, "The Visitor" (I have yet to reread it), are sf, not fantasy;
"The Visitor" is in any case repeated in the later collection, All One Universe;
"Pact" and "Superstition" are, I provisionally think, fantasy.

The Afterword is about Anderson's fantasies.

I am trying to track down Cappen Varra stories but felt obliged to analyze Fantasy before reading "The Valor of Cappen Varra."

Stratford

Tomorrow, we will visit Stratford. Previous blog references to Shakespeare include:

A Midsummer Tempest
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Tempest
Hamlet
Macbeth
Iambic Pentameter
Fairy Gold 

These search results overlap, of course. Anything relevant that comes up tomorrow will be added to the blog.

James Blish On Poul Anderson II

See James Blish On Poul Anderson.

In The Issue...
On pp. 105-106, Blish writes that:

Jack Vance's "The Dragon Masters" is a far future fantasy with blade weapons, armor, animal mounts and magic;

Poul Anderson had written several works in this vein but with a reasonable rather than a magical tone;

Anderson knew that explanations in terms of modern physics are as mystical as the grimoires;

for example, he explained the unluckiness of fairy gold in terms of a nuclear transformation.

To which of Anderson's works does Blish refer?

On p. 107, Blish lists Anderson as a writer of "...'hard' science fiction, firmly based in technology..."

New Comparisons

Happy New Year, Poul Anderson fans. Thank you for continued page views during a period of blog quiescence. I have continued to post about Neil Gaiman's The Sandman on Comics Appreciation and have found three more Anderson-Gaiman parallels:

fairy gold;
Faerie withdrawal with the rise of science;
dialogue written in blank verse.

(I have just remembered one other: quotations from poems by James Elroy Flecker.)

Meanwhile, my daughter has given me the first three volumes of Iain M. Banks' Culture sf series. Previously on this blog, I have discussed:

HG Wells;
Olaf Stapledon;
CS Lewis;
Robert Heinlein;
Isaac Asimov;
James Blish;
Larry Niven

- in order to compare them with Anderson. I am less familiar with more recent sf but Banks might now join the list of comparisons.

Banks wrote contemporary novels as Iain Banks, then started his long sf series as Iain M Banks. The first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas, like James Blish's After Such Knowledge Trilogy, derives its title from a short phrase in TS Eliot's The Waste Land. Banks' interstellar society is in some ways similar to the one presented in Douglas Adams' A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

When Wells wrote his "fantastic and imaginative romances," many by now familiar ideas were still new:

heavier than air flight;
tanks;
heat rays;
poison gas;
world wars;
interplanetary projectiles;
antigravity;
time travel.

Since then, many later ideas have become all too familiar background material in much sf:

hyperdrives - that cannot be activated too deep in a gravity well;
artificial gravity;
interstellar civilizations - waging wars;
humanoid beings on many extrasolar planets;
telepathy;
artificial intelligence.

Banks had clearly mastered all these later ideas before starting to write Consider Phlebas. He adds the questionable idea of "human" species on many planets, apparently resulting from parallel evolution.

Anderson deploys the second list of concepts brilliantly in his History of Technic Civilization, where the quality of his writing overcomes conceptual cliches. I am currently assessing Banks by the same criteria.

Goodbye

Poul Anderson describes a peaceful scene after the Ardazirho have withdrawn from Vixen. Flandry:

"...walked through bustling streets to the little house. Its peaked roof was gold above vine-covered walls."
-Poul Anderson, "Hunters of the Sky Cave" IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 149-301 AT XVIII, p. 298.

Inside:

"Sunlight streamed past roses in a trellis window, casting blue shadows over the warm small neatness of furnishings."
-op. cit., p. 298.

Kit dials "...the public pneumo for drinks..." (ibid.) (pneumo?)

Flandry:

"...looked through a shielding haze of smoke at roses which nodded in a mild summer wind."
-op. cit., p. 299.

The Ardazirho, reorganized as a loose federation, had fought the Merseians, then accepted the Terran Pax because it would protect their tribes from each other!

However, this is not a fairy tale ending. Flandry has visited only to say goodbye to Kit. I could not have walked out on her like that but then I would not have won her admiration or liberated her planet in the first place.