An Almost Invisible Narrator

"Wings of Victory" by Poul Anderson was published in Analog, April 1972 (see image), and collected first in The Earth Book Of Stormgate, then in The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume I. Thus, our two sources of information about this story's first person narrator are, first, the text of the story, and, secondly, an interstitial passage by Hloch, the Avalonian Ythrian Editor of the Earth Book.

In the story, the narrator:

is a member of the crew of the Grand Survey spaceship, the Olga;

says, "'Pack animals, maybe?'" (Earth Book, p. 5);

is not among the landing party that makes first contact on Ythri, which is what the story is about;

is present but does not speak at the very end of the story.

Thus, s/he is almost invisible but nevertheless present as a first person narrator.

Hloch tells us that she is Maeve Downey, planetologist, and that the story is an extract from her autobiography, Far Adventure.

For the full list of Hloch's sources, see:

Hloch's Sources
Hloch's Sources II
Hloch's Sources III
Hloch's Sources IV
Hloch's Sources V
Hloch's Sources VI
Hloch's New Narratives
Fair Winds Forever

What Else Hloch Relates

Rereading Hloch's introductions in search of more information about the Ythrian ancestors, we find that his account moves forward from ancestral times into the periods covered by The People Of The Wind and by the stories that he collects in the Earth Book. Thus:

James Ching, student friend of Adzel, became a spaceman, eventually settling in Catawrayannis, and wrote life-long reminiscences, one of which was republished in the Earth Book;

Emil Dalmady's daughter, Judith, moved to Avalon with Falkayn and wrote works of historical fiction which were published in the periodical, Morgana, three republished in the Earth Book;

the Avalonian armed forces supported the deciphering of data units transferred from Hermes in the hope of finding militarily useful information during the build-up to the Terran War;

Arinnian/Christopher Holm wrote one story for the Earth Book and co-wrote two others with Hloch;

in his Tales Of The Great Frontier, A.A. Craig wrote about van Rijn and also about an early incident on Avalon after interviewing the person involved when visiting the planet.

These interstitial passages, written, no doubt effortlessly, for the Earth Book collection by Poul Anderson, immensely enhance an already substantial future history series but we have analyzed Hloch's sources before.

Hloch's Sources

Poul Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979).

When referring just to the Earth Book, it is convenient to have a copy of that work as a single volume alongside The Technic Civilization Saga.

"Wings of Victory"
Maeve Downey, planetologist on the Grand Survey spaceship, the Olga, described first contact with Ythri in her autobiography, Far Adventure.

"The Problem of Pain"
An anonymous first person narrator worked with Peter Berg on Lucifer where Berg recounted his experience on Gray/Avalon. That narrator retold Berg's story in a correspondence that was preserved by the recipient's heirs on Earth. A visiting historian obtained a copy and transcribed it into the archives of the University of Fleurville on Esperance where Rennhi found it. Then, her son, Hloch, published the account in the Earth Book on Avalon.

These first two examples demonstrate the extent to which Hloch's Earth Book Introductions add considerable depth and detail to Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.

Hloch's Sources VI

In "Who Knows Of Avalon?" (here), I reread Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind in order to summarize not the plot but the background information about the planet Avalon, which turned out to be a narrative in its own right. Similarly, rereading not the stories but just the interstitial passages in Anderson's The Earth Book Of Stormgate reveals an entire behind-the-scenes history of people and events. We learn more about James Ching, Emil Dalmady and Christopher Holm, meet Dalmady's daughter and learn about pre-Troubles precautions taken by van Rijn and Falkayn.

"Lodestar"
The records on Hermes contained a ship's log, taped conversations, data lists etc for van Rijn's journey to Mirkheim. Having identified the vessel and its captain, Rennhi contacted Wryfields Choth on Ythri. The Wyvan, Stirrok, located Captain Hirharouk's private journal and Hirharouk's descendants allowed it to be read. Hloch and Arinnian composed the narrative, "Lodestar."

"Wingless"
This story, about David Falkayn's grandson on Avalon, was "...the last that Judith Dalmedy/Lundgren wrote for Morgana." (p. 410) (For full reference, see here.) Hloch tells us that "...she was then in her high old age..." but that "...the memories upon which she was drawing were fresh." (ibid.) Presumably, these were the memories of Nat Falkayn.

"Rescue on Avalon"
A.A. Craig was a Terran who traveled widely, gathering material for historical narratives, during a pause in the Troubles. While on Avalon, he heard from an elderly man of an incident in that man's youth. Craig wrote a fictionalized but nevertheless "...substantially accurate..." (p. 421) account in his Tales Of The Great Frontier.

Old age and memories of youth are an emergent theme. The published authors whose works are reproduced by Hloch are:

Maeve Downey;
A.A. Craig (2);
Judith Dalmady/Lundgren (3) -

- and we are also told that Christopher Holm has translated several works from Planha into Anglic.

Hloch's Sources V

"A Little Knowledge"
The xenologist Fluoch of Mistwood brought this story to Avalon. Christopher Holm/Arinnian of Stormgate prepared a suitable version for the Earth Book.

"Day of Burning"
We return to Rennhi's researches. Falkayn's Avalonian descendants had a vague tradition that he had been on Merseia. Rennhi set out to find the truth. On Falkayn's home planet, Hermes, she learned that he and van Rijn had transferred data units there, placing them in the care of the Grand Ducal house and of the Falkayns. Information would be more secure on Hermes than in the Solar System where the Troubles were brewing. After the dissolution of the Polesotechnic League, there was no longer a decipherment program and the units remained almost forgotten in storage. With permission, Rennhi transferred the molecular patterns to Avalon where she began a code-breaking effort. The military helped because war with Terra was imminent.

The cracking of the cipher developed cryptography even though the records had no military value. Hloch and Arinnian made a narrative of the account of the trade pioneer crew's mission to save Merseia from the effects of the nearby supernova, Valenderay.

Hloch's New Narratives

"Hloch's introductions add a new narrative layer..."
-see here.

James Ching narrates "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson," where he is last seen about to accept an apprenticeship with a Master Merchant of the Polesotechnic League, having been recommended by Adzel. Hloch tells us that:

Jim became a spaceman;

"How To Be Ethnic..." is an extract from his life-long reminiscences;

he settled in Catawrayannis;

his descendants kept his notebooks and made them available to Rennhi, Hloch's mother.

Nicholas van Rijn promotes Emil Dalmady to entrepreneur in "Esau." Hloch tells us that:

Dalmady soared high for many years;

some of his children came to Avalon with Falkayn;

his daughter Judith wrote "Esau," which was published in a magazine named Morgana after the Avalonian moon;

Dalmady got the story of "The Season of Forgiveness" from one of the persons concerned and relayed it to Judith who wrote it also for Morgana;

in her old age, Judith Dalmady/Lundgren wrote "Wingless" about Nat Falkayn, also published in Morgana.

Hloch rescues "Arinnian of Stormgate Choth, whose human name is Christopher Holm..." (David Falkayn: Star Trader, pp. 599-600) from being a single-novel character.

Arinnian wrote "A Little Knowledge" for the Earth Book;

Hloch and Arinnian wrote "Day of Burning" and "Lodestar," again directly for the Earth Book which also includes texts from other sources.

Thus, between them, Jim Ching, Dalmady's daughter and Arinnian account for seven of the twelve works included in the Earth Book.

A Black Nebula Series?

PLANET STORIES covers sent by Sean M Brooks as possible illustrations for his article, "Anderson's PLANET STORIES Tales", have at least three noteworthy features:

(i) female figures in poses common to such covers;

(ii) we recognize AA Craig as one of Hloch's sources for The Earth Book Of Stormgate;

(iii) the left hand cover somewhat dishonestly describes "Sargasso of Lost Starships" as "a Dark Nebula novel" whereas it is the Dark Nebula short story.

Imagine the implications if say three or more Dark Nebula novels were to be incorporated into Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization! What other planets would be in the Nebula? Why is the cosmic energy source more accessible from there than from anywhere else? Would the cosmic energy generate different powers in organisms with different biologies? Did the Chereionites visit there in the galactic past? Might Flandry have to go there on behalf of the Empire?

We can at least imagine Anderson continuing to write his series in some happy realm of the hereafter. In Valhalla, Vikings fight all day and are resurrected to feast every night. For some of my former teaching colleagues, the equivalent would be cricket all day followed by food and beer back at the Punch Bowl Inn every evening. An author might write a new novel each day and discuss it with fellow writers and fans in a Convention bar in the evening?

After speculating about the Resurrection, CS Lewis wrote:

"Guesses, of course, only guesses. If they are not true, something better will be." (Letter To Malcolm: Chiefly On Prayer, London, 1966, p. 124)

I can only say, "Myths, of course, only myths, but ones that express the best that we can conceive or imagine."

From the Black Nebula to Valhalla to the Punch Bowl to a Convention in the Sky to Heaven and back:

"Methinks it is no journey."

Later: In Heaven, presumably an unlimited realm of permanent negative entropy:

we would not read but live novels;
authors would not write fictitious texts but program virtual realities;
we would experience van Rijn's hospitality, the planet Avalon, Flandry's space battles etc;
or, as Lewis wrote, if not this, then something better.

Hloch's Sources II

"How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson"
Spaceman James Ching's notebooks containing his life-long reminiscences were kept by his descendants on Catawrayannis and made available to Rennhi when she inquired about them. "How To Be Ethnic..." ends with young Ching, friend of Adzel, about to finish school in San Francisco Integrate and to begin an apprenticeship in the Polesotechnic League. Hloch is able, in a single sentence, to summarize the entire subsequent career of such a character.

"Margin of Profit"
This account of Nicholas van Rijn was published in Tales Of The Great Frontier by A.A. Craig.

So far, then, Hloch has presented two accounts taken from already published works and two that were obtained by his mother, Rennhi's, researches on Esperance and Catawrayannis, respectively.

Hloch's Sources IV

The Man Who Counts 
This is another chapter of the Earth Book that is a previously published work, the fifth so far. Although the text is a historical novel, Hloch thinks that it is "...reasonably factual." (p. 146) (For full reference, see here.) He includes it "...partly because van Rijn is more central in it than in others..." (ibid.)
Indeed, the other two novels known to us, Satan's World and Mirkheim, are equally about van Rijn's trade pioneer crew. He adds that it was originally published "...either on Terra or Hermes; separate authors and dates are given on those two worlds, and Rennhi did not feel the matter was worth pursuing further." (ibid.) We know of one other title and that Rennhi was right not to pursue it.

"The Star Plunderer," our only source of information about Manuel Argos, Founder of the Terran Empire, is historical fiction, a "play within the play," and The Man Who Counts is presented as a historical novel. We accept them as such and recognize that someone else could have written a non-fictional account of the same events. Think about important events that you have been involved in, then imagine that those events have been dramatized in a feature film. I have seen certain British politicians, then actors presenting them on screen.

Hloch's Sources III

"Esau"
Emil Dalmady, the hero of "Esau," is, at the end of that story, about to become an entrepreneur initially trained and financed by van Rijn. Some of Dalmady's children move to Avalon with Falkayn. His daughter, Judith, recalls Emil's reminiscences when she was younger and also has a good knowledge of the conditions in his youth. In later life, she writes "Esau," which is published in the Avalonian magazine, Morgana, named after one of the planet's moons. Thus, this fifth chapter of the Earth Book is a third previously published work.

"The Season of Forgiveness"
We learn that Judith Dalmady's married name was Lundgren. While her father worked as an entrepreneur near Ivanhoe, he heard of an incident on that planet from one of the people involved. He told it to Judith who wrote it as a story in Morgana. Its setting on Ivanhoe makes this story an indirect sequel to David Falkayn's opening adventure on another continent of that planet. However, that story had been collected in The Trouble Twisters before there was an Earth Book.

These characters become quite engaging. If not for Hloch, we would have known nothing of Dalmady after the end of "Esau." Now, instead, the older Dalmady and even his daughter, Judith, in her later life, have become continuing characters in a few short interstitial passages.

We have come a long way from the psychological problems of "The Saturn Game" but that is the nature of history and of future history - and it remains a single history.

The Extended Earth Book

Hloch's AFTERWORD to The Earth Book Of Stormgate comes at the mid-point of The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, and is immediately followed by two exclusively human future historical narratives which were published exactly twenty years before the first Ythrian story. However, the sixth and last Technic History installment to be collected in Rise... is The People Of The Wind which not only returns us to Avalon but is in fact the source of the background information in Hloch's Earth Book introductions. Hloch addressing his readers, then flying up from his tower on Anrovil while expressing the wish, "Fair winds forever," is chronologically the last event in the Saga, Volumes I-III, because it comes shortly after the events of the Terran War as described in The People Of The Wind. This blog is currently focusing on that novel for information about the lives of human choth members.

The Saga Volumes I-III are like an extended Earth Book, adding information from sources other than those accessed by Hloch.

Avalon

Our sources of information about the planet Avalon are:

"The Problem of Pain," human beings and Ythrians explore Gray/Avalon;

"Wingless," both races colonize the Avalonian islands;

"Rescue on Avalon," both races colonize the Avalonian continent;

The People Of The Wind, both races resist the Terran Empire to remain in the Domain of Ythri;

The Earth Book Of Stormgate, an Avalonian Ythrian, Hloch, collects and comments on accounts of human beings.

How much additional information about Avalon does Hloch disclose? I was about to start summarizing the information to be gleaned from Hloch's notes between the stories but instead will retire and return to the topic tomorrow or shortly.

Also, if you have read the van Rijn story, "The Master Key," how much do you remember about it? Some people bring a problem about an alien race to van Rijn in his penthouse and he solves it for them? Maybe also something about the nature of the problem? There are several rich background details that are probably forgotten. One function of this blog is to celebrate such details by reminding us of them and first I must remind myself by careful rereading.

Fair Winds Forever

Poul Anderson was able to invent new characters for specific purposes, then invest them with substance. An omnibus collection contains twelve works (eleven stories and one novel) set before, during and after the period of the Polesotechnic League. Another novel, The People of the Wind, is set after this period. From this further novel, Anderson generated a title and interstitial passages for the collection. The People of the Wind is set on the planet Avalon where some humans and Ythrians are organised as the Stormgate Choth so the collection became The Earth Book of Stormgate. The rationale for the title is that the works in the collection present human perspectives on events preceding the founding of the Stormgate Choth on Avalon.

Five of the works feature Ythrians. Of these, four focus explicitly on human-Ythrian relations, three are set on Avalon, two are set after the joint colonisation of Avalon and one is about Falkayn, the founder of the Avalonian colony, and his employer, van Rijn. Of the seven non-Ythrian works, one is about Falkayn, one about his future travelling companion, one about a planet previously visited by Falkayn and three about van Rijn. The one remaining story mentions van Rijn. Thus, all twelve works are connected to each other but not all in ways that link them directly to Avalon. Anderson makes this further connection in the specially written Earth Book introductions to the works.

In "Esau," Emil Dalmady reports to van Rijn. The Earth Book introduction informs us that Dalmady's children joined the Avalonian colony where one of them wrote "Esau." The introductions to two other stories inform us that she also wrote them. Earth Book introductions mention three Stormgate members from The People of the Wind: Lythran, Blawsa and Christopher Holm/Arinnian. They also introduce new characters: the historian Rennhi, who wrote The Sky Book of Stormgate about Ythrian perspectives but who died before she could start the companion volume, the Earth Book, and her son Hloch who wrote the Earth Book. Arinnian wrote one Earth Book story and collaborated with Hloch on two others which were based on Rennhi's decipherment of records left by van Rijn and Falkayn on Falkayn's home planet, Hermes.

Hloch's other sources are:

Far Adventure by Maeve Downey, the autobiography of a planetologist;

a private correspondence recorded on Terra and kept in the archives of the University of Fleurville on the planet Esperance;

the reminiscences of James Ching, a spaceman who settled on Catawrayannis;

Tales of the Great Frontier by A. A. Craig;

stories by Judith Dalmady in the Avalonian periodical Morgana;

a historical novel about van Rijn originally published on either Terra or Hermes;

a tale brought to Ythri by the xenologist Fluoch of Mistwood and translated into Anglic by Arinnian;

the private journal of the spaceship captain Hiraharouk of Wryfields Choth on Ythri.

Hloch writes of Rennhi that her Sky Book, which we do not read, describes the history of the choth, the Ythrian ancestors, the Avalonian founders and their descendants to her own day.

"...of how past and present and future have forever been intermingled and, in living minds, ever begetting each other - of this does her work pursue the truth, and will as long as thought flies over our world." (1)

Thus, Anderson adds significantly to the works gathered in the Earth Book. Hloch signs off with:

"Now The Earth Book of Stormgate is ended. From my tower I see the great white sweep of the snows upon Mount Anrovil. I feel the air blow in and caress my feathers. Yonder sky is calling. I will go.
"Fair winds forever." (2)

(1) Poul Anderson, The Earth Book of Stormgate, New York, 1978, p. 2.
(2) op. cit., p. 434.

History And Fiction

When Ensign Flandry, the hero, is a guest at a party hosted by Lord Hauksberg, the latter's concubine, Persis d'Io, wants to hear Flandry's account of his adventures among the Tigeries.

"He made the tale somewhat better than true: sufficient to drive Abrams into a coughing fit."
-Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 44.

Abrams is Chief of Intelligence on Starkad. Flandry adds that he has been:

"'...busy working with Commander Abrams.' In point of fact he had done the detail chores of data correlation on a considerably lower level." (ibid.)

So the Adventures of Dominic Flandry begin here already with Flandry's exaggerated account to Persis. Having just read what Flandry did for the Tigeries, we do not think that he needed to exaggerate - or was that Flandry's account that we read? Where does fiction end and fiction within the fiction begin?

According to Hloch's Introduction in The Earth Book Of Stormgate, The Man Who Counts is one of several historical novels featuring Nicholas van Rijn, apparently reasonably accurate although of uncertain origin. Van Rijn  lives in folk memory as hero or rogue on many planets. Flandry tells a story of van Rijn when posing as a storyteller on Unan Besar. Our only account of the Founder of the Terran Empire may be historical fiction.

We need to read Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization carefully in order to discern how much of the narrative comes to us from an omniscient narrator and how much from sources internal to the History. The latter could legitimately be contradicted by any later additions to the series.

To See You Again II

This is not quite the same thing but here goes. Christopher Holm, having featured as a major character in a single novel, The People Of The Wind, unexpectedly shows up again in The Earth Book Of Stormgate but not as a character in any of the stories. Instead, he has moved off-stage/behind the scenes to become one of the authors! As such, he is named in three of Hloch's introductions.

Any story implicitly raises two questions. What does the story tell us? How did the story come to be told? Often, the second question is not addressed. Sometimes, its answer is out in the open, e.g., Doctor Watson (or some other first person narrator) tells us! Poul Anderson's Technic History has a truly impressive list of, usually named, individuals who either introduce or narrate stories without appearing in them:

Francis L. Minamoto

Hloch of Stormgate Choth

Maeve Downey (she is, just slightly, present in the text)

A.A. Craig

Vance Hall

Noah Arkwright

Judith Lundgren

unnamed author(s) of The Man Who Counts

Le Matelot

Urwain the Wide-Faring

Donvar Ayeghen

Michael Karageorge (Hank Davis)

These are our historical sources. James Ching writes the story that he appears in whereas Christopher Holm appears in one Technic History installment but writes or co-writes three others.

In some works - going outside the Technic History -, the answer to that question of how the story came to be told becomes quite elaborate. Thus, Steve Mauchek telepathically broadcasts Operation Chaos between timelines but then writes Operation Luna and seals the manuscript for a century. See Three Narratives.